Tuesday Tidbit: Your Christmas stories, part of God’s bigger stories

You have Christmas stories to tell. Oh, yes, I know you do!

And telling them might be more important than you realize.

“It is our personal stories that bring context to God’s bigger story,” state the good folks at Christian Grandparenting Network. “And part of the telling of those stories involves writing them down.”

Illustration in public domain

How true! Think about it:

Until you put your Christmas stories in writing, they are merely your memories,

your thoughts, your experiences.

Someone needs to know your Christmas stories—the sad ones, the happy ones; the normal ones, the unusual ones; the discouraging ones, the encouraging ones; the boring ones, the surprising ones—all part of “God’s bigger story.”

This is a busy time of year so I’m not suggesting you sit down and write. Instead, as memories of Christmases past pop into your mind, jot down ideas and promise yourself you’ll write them as stories in the new year!

Your stories are important! 

God can use them as part of His bigger story 

to teach, inspire, and offer hope.

In light of current tragedies, how can your memoir inspire hope?

In light of current tragedies and heartaches—wildfires, drought, floods, ongoing mass shootings, a dysfunctional government, farmers reeling over low prices and loss of sales because of tariffs, children separated from their parents—how can your memoir offer hope to people who so desperately need it?

At times like this, the following well-known tale takes on new relevance:

A shipwreck survivor, alone on a desert island, prayed for God to rescue him.

He built a hut and waited for God to answer.

Day after day, he prayed. But one day his hut burned to the ground.

Devastated, confused, he cried out, “Why didn’t God rescue me? Why did He let my hut burn down? Why? Why?”

The next day a ship arrived and rescued the man.

“How did you know I was here?" he asked the captain.

“We saw your smoke signal,” he answered.

Several years ago, Cavin Harper told that story on his blog at Christian Grandparenting Network. His perspective was spot-on for memoirists, whether writing for children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, or a broader audience.

Cavin wrote:

“Our grandchildren need to know

that no matter what may come,

God knows how to make smoke signals

and rescue us in our troubles.

How do you communicate words of hope

to your grandchildren in the face of tragedy

and senseless violence?”

As much as we long to live happily ever after, bad stuff happens to good people. Like Jesus said in John 16:33, “In this world you will have trouble.”

You’ve experienced your own shipwrecks and burned huts, haven’t you? Tragedies and sorrows, maybe even violence, crime, abuse. I’ve experienced my own heartaches, too, and somehow you and I survived.

Your readers long to triumph over their own shipwrecks and burned huts. What stories can you write to help them? What, specifically, was that “somehow” that led you to the other side of your tragedy?

One of my favorite Bible passages is Psalm 77 in which Asaph spoke of crying out to God. “When I cried out in distress, I sought the Lord; at night I stretched out my untiring hands and my soul refused to be comforted.” You’ve been there, right?

Poor Asaph said he was too troubled even to speak. I’ve been there, too.

Maybe you recall weeks or months or years when you, like Asaph, wondered, “Will the Lord . . . never show his favor again? Has his unfailing love vanished forever? Has his promise failed for all time? Has God forgotten to be merciful?”

You remember that desperation, don’t you?

Next comes the part I like best. Asaph says, “This is my anguish; But I will remember . . .” (v. 10, NKJV). “I will remember the works of the Lord.” He determined to remember.

The NIV Study Bible footnote points out that this was Asaph’s “Faith’s decision to look beyond the present troubles—and God’s bewildering inactivity—to draw help anew from God’s saving acts of old.”

That’s it! We hold on for dear life by remembering what God did in the past.

And, like Asaph, we make a deliberate decision to trust God’s faithfulness based on His previous faithfulness to us. We make a deliberate decision to believe that even if God seems mysteriously absent, He is working on our behalf.

Think back to a trying situation. Perhaps God seemed absent, but later you discovered He’d been busy arranging a way for you to survive. And you went on with your life, and it was good.

Asaph, in the next chapter of Psalms, writes:

“We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done . . . which he commanded our forefathers to teach their children, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they, in turn, would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God. . .” (Psalm 78:4-7).

Isn’t that what our memoirs are all about?

Remember Cavin’s words:

“Our grandchildren need to know

that no matter what may come,

God knows how to make smoke signals

and rescue us in our troubles.

How do you communicate words of hope

to your grandchildren in the face of tragedy

and senseless violence?”

Write your stories!

“What have you got to lose, except all that your family could gain?”

Have you ever asked yourself who will be poorer for not knowing your stories?

Your stories are important. They can offer wisdom and hope and character and faith to your readers—stuff they need to know!

Today Cavin Harper challenges us to take our roles seriously and be intentional about writing our stories for the benefit of our kids, grandkids, and great-grands. He asks us, “Have you written it down?”

Have You Written It Down? 

by Cavin Harper, 

Founder and President of Christian Grandparenting Network

Let this be written for a future generation, 

that a people not yet created may praise the Lord.  

Psalm 102:18

Why am I who I am today? What forces have shaped my life and the way I see the world?

These questions are not only important to me, but to those who follow me. My stories are my family’s stories, but, even more than that, they are part of God’s story and the legacy that will be left for future generations. Our stories tell those who come after something about why they are the way they are and reveal the tapestry of God’s sovereign hand woven in our stories. So, why do we not take storytelling more seriously?

Who am I?

Obviously, as a Christian—a follower of Christ—the Gospel has profoundly shaped who I am and how I view the world. Still, things like why I love cornbread and beans smothered in ketchup, for example, can be explained only by my story as a member of the Harper family. The stories each of us have experienced from birth shape us and form the bigger story that comprises the legacy we leave to the generations that follow … if they know the stories.

The Psalmist has made it very clear that we are to tell the stories of God’s praiseworthiness and faithfulness, His power and the wonders He has done (Psalm 78:4). But it is our personal stories that bring context to God’s bigger story as it is played out through our family tree. And part of telling those stories involves writing them down.

Our Stories are Treasures

The importance of writing our stories to preserve our legacy is the subject of Lana Rockwell’s book, Passing On a Written Legacy. Lana believes the stories of our lives written for others to read help our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren gain some valuable perspective about who we are as members of our family. They also help us tell the story of God’s faithfulness and ongoing work in our lives, both the good times and the bad. In her opinion, these stories are “treasures from God, a special gift from God for another generation.”

So, what keeps us from writing these stories down? Lana believes there are any number of reasons, all the result of misinformation or faulty thinking. We don’t think we can write well enough, or we don’t think we can remember anything worth telling. First of all, we’re not writing to get on the New York Best Seller list. Just start writing something and see what happens. Stop making excuses. This is about telling what you know so another generation may benefit from it.

Secondly, ask yourself who loses if you don’t tell your stories. How many of you feel you lost something important because your grandparents or parents never preserved some of their stories that tell who they were and maybe something about ourselves? Don’t make the same mistake for the generations following you.

Thirdly, order a copy of Lana’s book, Passing On a Written Legacy, and make the decision to give it a try. And in case you’re not sure if it would be worth your while, listen to my podcast with Lana on Family Impact. I think she may convince you to take the plunge. What have you got to lose, except all that your family could gain?

Thanks, Cavin, for sharing your post with us. I haven’t bought Lana’s book yet, but plan to do so soon. It looks like a valuable resource for all the memoirists here at SM 101.

Originally published as Have You Written It Down? Reprinted here by permission.

“Remember,” the most frequent Old Testament command

This must be one of the saddest passages in the Bible:

They believed His words;

They sang His praise.

They soon forgot His works….

Psalm 106:12-13, NKJV

“Many churches have forgotten the premium

that the historic Judeo-Christian tradition placed on remembrance

…and recalling the right things.

The ‘great sin’ of the Old Testament

was forgetfulness

(at least it is the most recurrent offense).

‘Remember’ is the most frequent command

in the Old Testament.”

(Clapham Memo, January 19, 2007,

“Back and Forth,” by Mike Metzger; emphasis mine)

“Remembering requires intentionality,” writes the Christian Grandparenting Network. “It is the constant warning of prophets and patriarchs...‘do not forget,’ ‘remember!’ Why? Because we are so prone to wander and forget who God is and what He has done in the past. And that has devastating consequences.

“Janet Thompson, author of Forsaken God?: Remembering the Goodness of God Our Culture Has Forgotten, says, ‘If we don’t remember what God already has done, we won’t believe what he is capable of doing in the future. Memory builds faith…. Most [believers] don’t intentionally forget God, they just don’t try hard enough to remember him.’

Christian Grandparenting Network continues, “God knew that if we didn’t make the effort to remember, it would take only one generation who forgets the goodness and greatness of God to completely make God irrelevant in the next generation….

“One of the key roles God has given to grandparents is that of ‘storyteller.’ We are to be, not only the repositories of family and faith history, but the tellers of those histories. The Psalmist declared, ‘Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come’ (Psalm 7:18)….”

God has been involved in

your family’s life in countless ways.

Have you forgotten some of them?

What stories do you need to remember?

Remembering them will build your faith

and increase your trust in God for the future!

Make a commitment:

Schedule time to write those stories

and place them in the hands of

your kids, grandkids, and great-grands.

Why?

Because God can use your stories

to build their faith

and increase their trust in God for the future!

Yours is a sacred calling.

Enjoy it!

Tuesday Tidbit – A key role: Storytelling

Here's today's 15 seconds of inspiration,

your Tuesday Tidbit:

"I believe with all my heart

that a key role grandparents are given in the family

is that of storyteller.

The power of story is undisputed when it comes to

impressing upon hearts and minds

the truths of God's world and work in our lives.

Stories stick in our mind.

They flesh out truth so that

it becomes more than information.

It is something we can visualize

and vicariously experience ...

and thus, it comes alive in us."

Cavin Harper, Executive Director

Christian Grandparenting Network

In light of recent tragedies, how can memoirists inspire hope?

In light of recent tragedies—our nation’s unrelenting drought, excessive heat, and crop failures, for example, and the massacre in Aurora, Colorado—the following well-known tale takes on new relevance:

A shipwreck survivor, alone on a desert island, prayed for God to rescue him.

He built a hut and waited for God to answer.

Day after day, he prayed.

Then one day his hut burned to the ground.

He was devastated. Not only had God failed to rescue him, now He also let the hut burn down! Why? Why?

The next day a ship arrived and rescued the man.

“How did you know I was here?” he asked the captain.

“We saw your smoke signal.”

Cavin Harper told that story Saturday on his blog at Christian Grandparenting Network. His perspective was spot on for memoirists, whether writing for children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, or a broader audience.

Cavin wrote,

“Our grandchildren need to know 

that no matter what may come, 

God knows how to make smoke signals 

and rescue us in our troubles. 

How do you communicate words of hope 

to your grandchildren in the face of tragedy 

and senseless violence?

As much as we long to live happily ever after, bad stuff happens to good people. Like Jesus said in John 16:33, “In this world you will have trouble.”

You’ve experienced trouble and sorrows—maybe even violence, crime, abuse. I’ve experienced trouble. Your readers will experience trouble. What stories can you write to help people survive their shipwrecks and burned huts?

One of my all-time favorite Bible passages is Psalm 77 in which Asaph spoke of crying out to God. “When I cried out in distress, I sought the Lord; at night I stretched out untiring hands and my soul refused to be comforted.”  

Asaph said he was too troubled even to speak.

You’ve been there, I’m sure. I’ve been there, too.

Perhaps you recall torturous weeks or months or years when you, like Asaph, wondered: “Will the Lord … never show his favor again? Has his unfailing love vanished forever? Has his promise failed for all time? Has God forgotten to be merciful?”

Next is the part I like best:

Asaph says, “This is my anguish; But I will remember …” (v. 10, NKJV). “I will remember,” he stated, “the works of the Lord.”

The NIV Study Bible footnote points out that this was Asaph’s “Faith’s decision to look beyond the present troubles—and God’s bewildering inactivity—to draw help anew from God’s saving acts of old.”

That’s it! We cope by remembering what God did in the past!

And, like Asaph, we make a deliberate decision to trust in God’s previous faithfulness to us. We make a deliberate decision to believe that even if God seems mysteriously absent, He is working it all out.

Think back to a trying situation in your life. Perhaps God seemed absent, but later you discovered He had been working everything out. You survived. You learned new things about yourself and about God. You went on with your life, and it was good.

Asaph, in the very next chapter of Psalms, writes this:

“We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done.… which he commanded our forefathers to teach their children, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God…” (Psalm 78:4-7).

Isn’t that what our memoirs are all about?

Remember what Cavin Harper wrote in his Saturday blog post: “Our grandchildren need to know that no matter what may come, God knows how to make smoke signals and rescue us in our troubles. How do you communicate words of hope to your grandchildren in the face of tragedy and senseless violence?”

Write your stories.

The Value of a Written Legacy

Today we welcome guest blogger Cavin T. Harper, Executive Director of Christian Grandparenting Network.*

“And I will make every effort to see that

after my departure

you will always be able to remember these things.”

2 Peter 1:15

When my grandparents passed away, so did most of the stories of their lives and my heritage.

While I still had the imprinted memories of the times we did have and the faith they so powerfully gave witness to as I and my siblings were growing up, I am missing some very important pieces of their lives that played important roles in shaping who I am today.

When Peter said what he did about making every effort to see that the things that had to do with life and eternal life would always be remembered, I suspect he had in mind more than just telling stories around a campfire. That’s why he wrote a letter—a written record was one way he could help them remember.

What effort are you making to make sure the lessons and stories God has written on the pages of your life are being passed on to another generation? They are priceless stories that will help the generations after you remember and understand how your story is impacting the story God is writing on the pages of their lives. They are stories that must be told and remembered.

My good friend, Lana Rockwell, has written a valuable book, Passing On A Written Legacy,* with simple, practical helps for creating your own written record to pass on to your family. Don’t underestimate the value of leaving a written record.

My sadness at having lost so much of the story of my family history is repeated over and over by many others who feel so much of their own history has been lost because no one took the time to write it down.

I feel so strongly about it I have also put together a tool for helping you write your legacy. The Legacy Journal* can help you organize information about your personal and family history in the first section, and in the next section record your thoughts and lessons learned about life that you want another generation to know as they journey through life. I encourage you to consider using both tools to tell your story.

Whatever tool you use, we will bless the next generations if, like Peter, we make every effort to see that these things God has done throughout our lifetime are remembered for the blessing and encouragement of another generation.

It really is more than our story--it is HIS story written on the pages of our lives as a testimony to His greatness and grace. Write it down, record it on video, or do both.

Make the effort for the sake of your children and grandchildren. If you do, they will call you blessed.

Thanks, Cavin. Your message is so important:

The stories God has written on the pages of our lives

can help future generations

understand the story God is writing

on the pages of their lives.

What a valuable legacy!

*Learn more about Cavin's Legacy Journal and Lana's Passing On A Written Legacy by reading The Value of a Written Legacy at http://www.christiangrandparenting.net/blogs/not-on-my-watch/496-the-value-of-a-written-legacy.html