Stories

We love stories as long as they happen to someone else. Stories don’t give answers, but they do offer perspective. They provide a window through which we can look for patterns of life. Peering through the window then leads to more compelling stories and finally deeper wisdom. Wisdom isn’t a formula or conclusion but a way of being in the world that leads to a more truthful and more beautiful good. Stories lure us because we sense this good hidden within them.-Dan Allender

Stories are part of my DNA.

I remember curling up on my mama's lap while she skillfully lifted the stories of Jimmy Skunk and Sammy the Jay from the pages of a book and gave them to my sister and me like a bedtime kiss.

I remember sitting around the dinner table, while my daddy, a natural storyteller, leaned back in his chair and told us about something that happened that day, or in the unimaginably distant past, when he was a child.

I remember the silly, incoherent stories about Banjo the dragon I spun with my own children when they were small.

I remember being a small girl, so absorbed in the world of a good book that it was more real to me than my own life. 

Stories are still as essential to me as food and shelter. Friday night, every Friday night, is pizza-movie night at our house. It is an important part of my week. When I travel, I carry a tiny hairbrush, an itty bitty tube of toothpaste, and at least 4 books.

Why do I love stories so much? Maybe it is because I find a sliver of myself in every character. Maybe it is because God is the ultimate storyteller. The whole world and all of history are parts of His epic tale. Maybe they lead me to things that are true.

I hope you get to enjoy a good story this week.
Beth