Think clearly. When you were a child how did you interact with the world? Was it through lists of facts, collections of information? Or rather, was it through story - those told to you, those you experienced, those you made up while you played?
"Story doesn't just tell us something and leave it there. It invites our participation. A good storyteller invites us into the story. We feel the emotions, get caught up in the drama, identify with the characters..." [Eugene Peterson]
When I speak the name of a person, rather than visualizing their eye color, their weight or their height, you remember their story, and how their story has interacted with your own. When I mention a point in our shared history, rather than remembering the date and location, you focus on how you felt, what you experienced, how the event impacted you and those who were there.
Your mother's name - stories / memories about her, filled with meaning and emotion. Your first car - stories / memories about it, how it smelled, the places you drove to, the conversations you had while you travelled. Your wedding day - stories / memories about it, how your spouse looked when you first saw them, the people who came, the party, the night after. The first time someone you knew died - stories / memories, both of them and their life, and also of you and your emotions.
In our haste for information, in our tweets and status updates, as we read for facts and not for experiences, as we distance ourselves from story... have we also lost our ability to connect with God?
Will you children, when they are older, remember facts about you or will they have stories / memories which connect them to you? Will they have only facts and information to base their faith in God upon? Or will you immerse them [and you!] in the stories of God - in the Bible - complete with memories of what He has done, and the hope of what He will do.
Are you story-training your children? Are you story-trained?
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