Hello Families!
What is your story? What is your family’s story? Do you share your family stories with your children? Why is it important to share your stories?
I have been reading and thinking a lot about these questions lately. In a workshop called “Growing Young”, we are learning about how to help teenagers and young adults thrive in their faith, family, and future ( as the subtitle to the book explains). One important tool is to focus on storytelling, listening to the stories being told, write them down, and finding opportunities to tell those stories over and over.
And in another part of my life, I am helping a young girl deal with the sudden death of her father. Part of the healing journey includes writing down the stories of their shared life together – a way to hold on to the shared experiences of their past to give her a new story of hope for the future.
And this Sunday, we will hear two readings about sharing stories from the past that turn us towards a new story, a story yet to unfold full of uncertainty, the unknown, and yet, hope.
Jesus loved to use stories/parables to teach and pass down God’s teaching. We have stories to share too. Not only do we have family stories to pass down, but we have faith stories to pass down to our children. In my family, we love to retell the story of my father dressing up in my tie-dye skirt, flower lei, and sunglasses to dance through the grandchildren singing “TipToe Through the Tulips” in a falsetto voice. But the stories of our faith were not as easily shared for my parents and I’m not sure why.
As my children grew up, I was determined to share our faith stories – the story of their baptism day and how we celebrated; their Rite 13 and Confirmation journeys; the time we missed the Christmas pagent service, so we came home and put on our own pageant with costumes and music; the funerals of my parents and stories that were told there; remembering all the sunset and cloud watching we did with great theological discussions unfolding as we watched God’s creation still creating.
“Just as the Hebrews in the Old Testament, we are called to remember what God has done in our lives. “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children” (Deuteronomy 4:9).” Focusonthefamily.ca.
Our stories help us remember details we may lose over time. They give us a way to share our faith and bring God into our daily life, and they let us be witnesses to God’s presence in our lives and help us to keep noticing where we see God.
Check out this article on how to write your Family Legacy from
