Tuesday Tidbit: “Stories are our prayers….”

Stories are our prayers.

Write them and edit them with due reverence,

even when the stories themselves are irreverent.

Stories are parables.

Write and edit and tell yours with meaning,

so each tale stands in for a larger message,

each story a guidepost on our collective journey.

Stories are history.

Write and edit and tell yours with accuracy

and understanding and context

and with unwavering devotion to the truth.

Stories are music.

Write and edit and tell yours

with pace and rhythm and flow.

Throw in the dips and twirls that make them exciting,

but stay true to the core beat.

Readers hear stories with their inner ear.

Stories are our soul.

Write and edit and tell yours with your whole selves.

Tell them as if they are all that matters.

It matters that you do it as if that’s all there is.

Jacqui Banaszynski,

 “Stories Matter,” Telling True Stories: A Nonfiction Writers’ Guide

You are a God-designed link between generations past and future

We will tell our children,

and the generations that come after us,

God-shaped family stories our parents and grandparents

passed down to us.

Let’s not hide them

from our children and grandchildren.

Instead, let’s tell stories of what we have seen God do—

His power and might,

and the glorious and praiseworthy things He has done—

so that we and they will praise Him.

God commanded our ancestors

to teach such things to their children

so they in turn would teach their children

down through the generations.

This is His plan

to help all of us grasp and remember

His deeds and miracles

and live faithfully according to His ways.

Psalm 78:2-7, paraphrased

God established this ingenious plan—to teach our children and grandchildren what we’ve seen Him do—because He knows we’ll benefit if we know, love, and follow His ways.

Instead of preaching do’s and don’ts, tell stories that will help kids and grandkids discover for themselves what’s important.

People resist a holier-than-thou attitude, but they respond well to a story. Stories are powerful.

Your stories can entertain, 

they can cause readers to laugh, 

or cry, 

or maybe both, 

and they’ll remember your stories longer than 

lectures or preaching.

“A story is up to twenty-two times more memorable than facts alone,” according to Professor Jennifer Aaker of the Stanford Graduate School of Business.   

Through your stories, 

others can benefit from your experiences: 

Readers can take in the wisdom you learned, 

avoid mistakes you have made, 

and make their own good choices. 

They can navigate through their own difficulties 

and mysteries, 

make sense of their own lives, 

and have a sense of direction for the future. 

Your stories can soften and strengthen hearts, 

pass on hope, 

and offer grace.

Write your stories. They are important!

Your words could take up residence in someone’s soul

"Someone needs to tell those tales….

For each and every ear it will be different,

and it will affect them in ways 

they can never predict. 

From the mundane to the PROFOUND. 

You may tell a tale that 

takes up residence in someone's soul, 

becomes their blood and self and purpose. 

That tale will move them and drive them 

and who knows what they might do because of it, 

because of your words. 

That is your role, your gift." 

Erin Morgenstern, The Night Circus 

Let’s not keep our stories to ourselves

”Jesus replied with a story.”

You, dear memoirist, are divinely linked to the reason Jesus told parables.

You see, there’s a reason you won’t find spreadsheets and charts and bullet points and graphs in the Bible. There’s a reason that, instead, the Bible is full of stories.

There’s a reason Jesus replied with a story (Luke 10:30).

You see, stories are among God’s most powerful and effective tools.

Your memoir’s stories can be among God’s most powerful and effective tools.

Stories uniquely illustrate, illuminate, and educate.

“Humans respond to ‘story’ differently than they do to the same content organized into any other narrative form and structure.…” says Kendall Haven.

Research has confirmed that “The human mind processes ‘stories’ differently than it does other narrative forms [such as ‘a lecture, a talk, a presentation’].” Haven continues, “Words and sentences—seemingly magically—suddenly become, in the mind of the listener, a story and, at that moment, the receiver’s mind begins to respond to and to process the material differently.…

“The human brain is literally hardwired to process stories differently than other forms of information.… They create meaning from stories differently.… Stories can lift human hearts and make them soar into the heavens. Stories can literally changes lives! The same information delivered in a non-story form rarely does so.…” (Kendall Haven, emphasis mine)

Peter Guber says it this way:  “Stories … are far more than entertainment. They are the most effective form of human communication, more powerful than any other way of packaging information.…

“PowerPoint presentations may be powered by state-of-the-art technology. But reams of data rarely engage people and move them to action. Stories, on the other hand, are state-of-the-heart technology—they connect us to others.… Without stories,” Guber says, “we couldn’t understand ourselves. They … give us much of the framework for much of our understanding.… While we think of stories as fluff, … something extraneous to real work, they turn out to be the cornerstone of consciousness.” (Peter Guber, emphasis mine; http://www.psychologytoday.com/collections/201106/the-power-stories/the-inside-story)

Whether Haven and Guber know it or not, they’re referring to the fact that God created humankind to respond to stories.

God uses stories. They are powerful. Stories are among God’s most compelling and successful tools.

As you write your memoirs, then, recognize you’re participating in a God-inspired, God-planned practice that has taken place since before recorded history.

Yours is a sacred calling.

Your stories can help readers examine their lives and make sense of who they are and why they were born. They can help people find their way.

Your stories can pass on wisdom and motivate people to do the right thing and to live honorable lives.

They can calm anxiety and offer tenacious hope.

They can shine light on possibilities, offer solutions, and change a life’s direction.

Your stories can illustrate truth, honesty, and integrity.

They can inspire loyalty and commitment.

Your stories can transform hate into love, fear into courage.

Your stories can teach, influence, empower, and heal.

They can break down barriers.

They can bring comfort, cheer, and redemption.

Your stories can solve mysteries and help people make decisions.

They can inspire an awe of God, His majesty and glory.  

They can lead people to His love and grace.

God can use your stories to change someone’s life for now and eternity.

Write your story! 

Remember your memoir’s ultimate purpose. 

(Click on that link!)

“Disburb us, Lord, when.…”

You want to entertain your memoir’s readers, but you also want to change your readers.

You want to write stories that show God’s everyday involvement in your life and your readers’ lives, stories that illustrate “everything is revealed to be in the hands of God.…” (Lawrence Kushner, Invisible Lines of Connection: Sacred stories of the ordinary)

Within that context, make sure your memoir’s stories—at least some of them—challenge your readers to think, to ponder, to mull over issues below the surface. Challenge readers to turn from worldly trinkets and distractions so they can consider their lives’ substance and purpose.

The following prayer teems with ideas for your memoir’s vignettes:

Disturb us, Lord, when

We are too well pleased with ourselves,

When our dreams have come true

Because we have dreamed too little,

When we arrive safely

Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when

With the abundance of things we possess

We have lost our thirst

For the waters of life;

Having fallen in love with life,

We have ceased to dream of eternity

And in our effort to build a new earth,

We have allowed our vision

Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,

To venture on wider seas

Where storms will show Your mastery;

Where losing sight of land,

We shall find the stars.

We ask You to push back

The horizons of our hopes;

And to push into the future

In strength, courage, hope, and love.

Attributed to Sir Francis Drake, 1577

Did Drake’s prayer give you ideas for vignettes? I hope so!

For example, take the first couple of lines: “Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves.…” What does “too well pleased with ourselves” mean? What stories can you write about being too pleased with yourself or about someone else who was too pleased with himself? What were the results of that mindset? Why would/should we pray for God to disturb us over it?

Look at the next couple of lines: “Disturb us, Lord, when … our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little.…” What does dreaming “too little” mean to you? What results from dreaming too little? Why would/should we pray for God to disturb us over it? What stories can you write to illustrate that?

Sift through your memories for stories that illuminate “Disturb us, Lord, when … we arrive safely because we sailed too close to the shore.” What does “sailing too close to shore” mean to you? When did you sail too close to shore? What were the results? Why would/should we pray for God to disturb us over sailing too close to shore?

On the other hand, look over the third stanza: When did you dare more boldly and venture on wider seas where, as a result, storms showed you God’s mastery? Write a vignette about a time you lost sight of land, and as a result, you discovered stars. You’ll want to examine and explain what the following mean: “wider seas,” “storms,” “God’s mastery,” “losing sight of land,” and finding “stars.”

Stories matter. Stories make a difference.

Stories guide, inspire, encourage, influence, motivate, and empower.

Stories shape lives.

“Sometimes a particular story, or version of a story, is so potent,” says Ayd Instone, “that it becomes so interwoven in our lives that it defines the direction our life story takes and modifies behavior.… I’ve seen teenagers who changed the direction of their lives to become teachers after seeing the film, The Dead Poets Society.…”  

Your stories are important. Write them!

Stories are …

Stories are our prayers.

Write and edit them with due reverence,

even when the stories themselves are irreverent.

Stories are parables.

Write and edit and tell yours with meaning,

so each tale stands in for a larger message,

each story a guidepost on our collective journey.

Stories are history.

Write and edit and tell yours with accuracy

and understanding and context

and with unwavering devotion to the truth.

Stories are music.

Write and edit and tell yours with pace

and rhythm and flow.

Throw in the dips and twirls that make them exciting,

but stay true to the core beat.

Readers hear stories with their inner ear.

Stories are our soul.

Write and edit and tell yours

with your whole selves.

Tell them as if they are all that matter.

It matters that you do it as if that’s all there is.

(Jacqui Banaszyski, “Stories Matter,” from Telling True Stories)