Happy New Year! And welcome to not only the new year and a new month, but a new theme for us to explore together. Our theme for January is “Living Love Through The Practice of Story.”
At first glance, I was inclined to think of this as “the practice of storytelling,” and while I love to tell my stories and I bet you do, too, not all of us are gifted storytellers. Wait a minute, though! This theme is not about the practice of storytelling–alone. It’s about the practice of story. As we explore what it means to practice story, I think we will find that each of us is gifted in one of the many shades of story. Here are some possibilities.
Do you know a gifted gardener? When you look at their gardens or receive fruit, vegetables or flowers from them, isn’t it clear that their gardens tell a story?
Do you have favorite musicians whose music, whether instrumental or vocal or both, you have at your fingertips to play all the time? Isn’t pretty clear that their music tells a story?
Have you, during these holidays, enjoyed the baking and cooking of someone who is talented in the kitchen? Isn’t it clear that their wonderful culinary delights tell a story?
I’m just getting started, but I’m also running out of room, so let me quickly suggest some other shades of story. Consider the traits, characteristics, practices and personalities of people that we value in our lives–living, dead, famous, unknown. Don’t the qualities in them that we admire tell a story? In fact, when we consider our beloved dead, don’t those considerations often invite us into telling their stories and stories about them and stories of why we admire them?
Human beings are not only story tellers. Our brains are set up to function best in story mode. Just let someone say “let me tell you a story” and both physically and metaphorically, we all lean in.
That’s what this theme invites us to explore: the myriad ways that we all tell our stories and look for and listen to the ways those around us are telling theirs.
Jeff Goins offers this insight into story which, coincidentally, is pretty much how I understand spirituality. I close with his words as we begin this new work.
Story is where we came from. Story is where we’re going. Story is what connects us and binds us to each other. It is in the story of humanity, amongst love and fear and failure, that we make meaning of our lives.
~Bob Patrick
What insight into the possibilities of story…. Blessed be.
Reading these Words of Wisdom right after I consume every page of our January GNUUs, I am filled with wonder and energy around the many ways we can practice Living Love through Story–not just this month, but as a culture of care every month, every week! I’m diving deep into how I’m telling and shaping my own story, especially from last year into this. I’m so glad we are on this meaning-making journey together!
with Love from Rev. Nancy