Five Minute Friday - Story

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One word. Five minutes to write about it. This is the idea behind Five Minute Friday and this is today's free-writing post.

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what's your story?

every picture tells a story

 

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Everyone has a story. We know this when we stop to think about it, but maybe I'm not the only one who doesn't think about as I go about my day-to-day. I've been thinking about it more recently because I realized that I don't know other people's stories any more than they know mine.

We've been living here for a few months, and have found a church that we like and attend regularly. We're not members yet, and are still getting to know the people and activities. We're learning names and matching them with faces. People are trying to learn our names as well, but of course the opportunities for conversation are limited as we're coming and going from services. 

Was it last Sunday or the week before? Anyway, as we were walking out to the car, I said to my husband, "I am irrelevant." I think I took him by surprise, but I explained, "No one knows anything about me except my name and that we're new here. I don't work outside the home, and nobody knows what I used to do, my hobbies, my skills, or enough about my background or what I care about, so they have no starting point for a conversation." I had noticed that after a generic greeting and comment about the weather or whatever, people would ask my husband about something to do with his job because they know where he works. And from that point on, I have nothing to contribute. Please understand, I am not faulting anyone! It is just a hazard of the circumstance at this time. I do not believe myself to be worthless or uninteresting―I just realized that no one knows my story! They barely know anything about the current chapter! And since I'd probably be considered very odd if I walked up to people and blurted out, "I'm Kym and I have four kids that I homeschooled," it's a slow process. The couple of people with whom we've exchanged a few stories on Wednesday nights have sometimes introduced us to others with a teaser about our story, and that helps get new conversations and story-telling started.

Inside each of us is a natural born storyteller, waiting to be released. ~Robin Moore, author

Here's a related story about knowing others' stories―My husband and I reflect sometimes on the huge difference in how mobile I am now compared to before I had my knee replacement. We both remember how difficult just walking through a grocery store was a year ago, that I needed a cane all the time, and that I had an obvious limp and was in almost constant pain. Today I'm cane-free, and comparatively pain-free. I seldom limp, and for the most part I am back to being a fast walker. But steps and uneven ground still slow me down, and I don't always walk at the speed I'd like. Nobody else knows though. Nobody can tell just by looking at me that it's been less than a year since I was crippled. They just see me taking the stairs "too slowly" or struggling to step in or out of a car. Are they impatient? Maybe. And maybe they wouldn't be if they knew my story.

We are all storytellers. We all live in a network of stories. There isn't a stronger connection between people than storytelling. ~Jimmy Neil Smith, Director of the International Storytelling Center

What about me? Am I impatient or judgey about someone else who is doing something differently from what I'd expect? Someone who seems to be anxious or nervous or uncomfortable? Someone who gives a snippy answer or someone who ignores a question? I need to remember that I don't know their story. I don't know the road they traveled before today, what experiences of joy or sorrow have shaped their story. I don't know what hurts and fears are part of their backstory, what scars are hidden from view, or how far they've come to arrive here. 

Let's all take the time to hear and to tell our stories and consider how the stories shape who we are. And how Jesus can redeem every story and write his mercy and love into each chapter. 

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.

Let the redeemed of the LORD tell their story―

those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,

those he gathered from the lands,

from east and west, from north and south.

Some wandered in desert wastelands,

finding no way to a city where they could settle.

They were hungry and thirsty,

and their lives ebbed away.

Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble,

and he delivered them from their distress.

He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle.

Let them give thanks to the LORD

for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind,

for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.

. . . 

Let the one who is wise heed these things

and ponder the loving deeds of the LORD.

~Psalm 107:1-9, 43~

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This post is linked at Five Minute Friday for the word prompt "Story".

This post will also be linked at Inspire Me Monday hosted by Anita Ojeda

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