Tell Your Story

You have a story.

And it’s an important one.

You may not think it is.

But it is.

No one else has the same story as you. It’s as unique as you are.

And no one can tell it like you can.

Do you share it? Do you tell it often?

A smile comes to my face as I think back to when my children were young. They couldn’t get enough stories of my dad, their grandfather. He passed away when our daughter was five and our son was two. They are now twenty and seventeen.

They were given the incredible gift of spending many hours with their grandpa through those early years of their lives before his passing. They got to know him well. As well as a five- and two-year old could. Their big, open-wide hearts loved their grandpa, and his death was their first experience of what a broken heart feels like.

Daily I was prompted by my two little ones,

“Tell us a Grandpa Story!!”

I would dig deep into my memory of the many things Grandpa did and said in my youth, my teenage years, my adult years. When I felt I had come to the end of new stories, or when my mind would go blank, I would call in reinforcements, a.k.a. my brothers, for more. And they would provide.

The stories seemed endless. Little did I realize, telling those stories helped me grieve, and allowed his memory to live on for years through them.

My father was a good man. He was a hard worker. My brothers and I learned our work ethic from him. He provided for our family. He loved his family. I watched him love his wife, my mom. He didn’t do anything that was newspaper-worthy, but how he lived his life was certainly story-worthy.

I imagine my father never thought he had a story to tell. I imagine he never dreamed the stories of his life would be told again and again through future generations. I imagine he never thought about any of that. He just lived the life that was before him.

And that’s what you and I are doing, and that’s a story to tell.

Are you a devoted mom and wife, taking care of your home? Are you a student, trying to keep your head above water? Are you like most of us, trying to make the most of each day?

Or maybe you’ve just walked through a trial or challenging time and you’ve survived to tell about it. Maybe God has taught you a lesson that would benefit others.

You may not think it’s any big deal, but it is.

You certainly have a story to tell.

How you share it is up to you. Share it in person. Share it with your children. Share it on paper. Share it in a blog (like I do). Share it in a book. Shout it from the rooftops.

I’d love to hear it. And so would others.

And who knows, maybe someday we’ll have grandchildren that will say to their parents,

“Tell me a Grandpa/Grandma story,”

and their parents will be able to tell them one, after another, after another.

Blessings!
Julie