Are You a Story That Speaks Only to Your World?

A person’s story is told and retold over the years as it unfolds in real time. What my life journey looks like now will take on greater meaning as it is built upon by coming days. My future will help define my past and my past will inform my future. Wisdom is gained this way. So is identity.As Christians our story develops and expands in healthy dimensions as we are transformed by the Lord. Without that aspect we remain stories that speak only to our own world—good, but not impacting in the sense of ancient and eternal.Karen Ward makes the following statement in the book Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches: “We can learn to see ourselves connected to God’s story only in so far as we have opportunity to tell and reflect upon our own stories, as faith and transformation are birthed by the Spirit in the overlap where God’s story and our own human stories meet.”Sabbath gives us a day once a week to reflect on our story entwined with God’s. For me, that day is Friday. My morning coffee time with the Lord carries over several hours as I let His Spirit inform my past week. Yes, such musing is also part of my daily “Thinkin’ Time,” but past days and weeks take on more significance when I have a set time to ponder His story defining mine.It is really out of these times that I find the resources to draw from in addressing the folks I fellowship with and lead at Father’s House. If I cannot understand my journey in the context of His, then what do I have of value to share? Whatever of my story is to be told, it must be the outflow of His changing work in me as we walk life’s pathways together.You are an eternal person claimed by our Ancient God, Jesus. How is His story continuing to define your journey? What do you have to share about your combined stories?

In Him together, Susan Gaddis

(This post is a reprint of my 8/1/09 Sabbath and Sabbatical post, “Our Story Told.”)