The Power of Recording Your Life Stories
The Power of Recording Your Life Stories
Life stories. Have you ever stopped to reflect on your life experiences, how they have shaped you, and all the lessons you have learned from them? Or, going beyond that, have you proactively done something to record your life stories so others can benefit (and especially your family)?
As we get older, some of us are just accumulating a bigger and bigger pile of undigested experiences. I love the African proverb that says "When an old person dies, it is as if a whole library burned down." In our busy life style, we often don't take time to stop and reflect on our life stories and how they have made us who we are.
Our life stories are significant and there is power in recording them. One of the amazing gifts that God has given us is the gift of memory, but He knew that it would not be an easy task to remember well the significant things that happen in our lives. After all, we don't exactly hear a trumpet sound right before a meaningful event occurs. It just happens.
In Numbers 6, after the Israelites had crossed the Jordan River, God told them to go back into the dried up river bed and collect twelve large stones -- one for each of the tribes. Then He said to pile up those stones to make a memorial so that it would be a sign for them throughout the years. When their children asked them what the stones were for, they would tell them that it was because the Lord had cut off the water of the Jordan to enable them to cross over. The stones were physical things to help them remember. Light bulb moment! We need a physical thing to help us remember significant happenings.
With this inspiration from Numbers, I wanted to write down some of my life stories to pass on to my grandchildren and future great-grandchildren, so I started a scrapbook. I made a list of different life stories I wanted to include and then would add to it as I remembered more stories. I gathered up a few photos to include with the stories, and then I began to compile them. Some I wrote by hand and some I typed on the computer and printed out. Each story has a lesson to it, so my grandchildren can learn from them.
Photos are a great addition to the story, but it is important not to let the gathering of the photos or the lack of appropriate photos be an obstacle to getting the story written. I wrote a story about asking each of my kids the question: "If you could change your life to be just perfect, what would you change?" (I asked them in private so their answers wouldn't be influenced by the others.) It was an awesome learning time for me about each of my precious kids. Now, of course, I didn't have a photo with them answering the question, so I just included photos of what they looked like at that time.
One of the life stories is about how one winter my mother used to warm up our shoes with the oven door open because our heat had been cut off. My dad had deserted our family and the heating bill was unpaid. But, I remember that my mom was praising God that we had an oven to heat up the kitchen. Of course, I didn't have a photo of that, but I just recreated the scene with lining up some of our shoes on an open oven door and then I took a photo of it.
There is one surprise benefactor from writing down your life stories. Not only do your kids, grandkids, and others who read your stories benefit, but you benefit too. In Launching a Leadership Revolution, Brady and Woodward state: "It is not enough to just 'experience' experiences. Wisdom is not the by-product of the passage of time. Evaluated experience is where true education occurs." As we write down our stories, we reflect, we ruminate, we evaluate, and we learn. Perhaps that is the greatest benefit of recording your life stories.
If you like this idea but don't know where to start, start with one story. Write it down. Discover the lesson in it. Then share it with someone. If there was any doubt in your mind to the value of doing this, that doubt will be cleared up.
Your life stories are powerful and can help create good emotional health in those you love. Recording your life stories capture their power for others and for you.
As we get older, some of us are just accumulating a bigger and bigger pile of undigested experiences. I love the African proverb that says "When an old person dies, it is as if a whole library burned down." In our busy life style, we often don't take time to stop and reflect on our life stories and how they have made us who we are.
Our life stories are significant and there is power in recording them. One of the amazing gifts that God has given us is the gift of memory, but He knew that it would not be an easy task to remember well the significant things that happen in our lives. After all, we don't exactly hear a trumpet sound right before a meaningful event occurs. It just happens.
In Numbers 6, after the Israelites had crossed the Jordan River, God told them to go back into the dried up river bed and collect twelve large stones -- one for each of the tribes. Then He said to pile up those stones to make a memorial so that it would be a sign for them throughout the years. When their children asked them what the stones were for, they would tell them that it was because the Lord had cut off the water of the Jordan to enable them to cross over. The stones were physical things to help them remember. Light bulb moment! We need a physical thing to help us remember significant happenings.
With this inspiration from Numbers, I wanted to write down some of my life stories to pass on to my grandchildren and future great-grandchildren, so I started a scrapbook. I made a list of different life stories I wanted to include and then would add to it as I remembered more stories. I gathered up a few photos to include with the stories, and then I began to compile them. Some I wrote by hand and some I typed on the computer and printed out. Each story has a lesson to it, so my grandchildren can learn from them.
Photos are a great addition to the story, but it is important not to let the gathering of the photos or the lack of appropriate photos be an obstacle to getting the story written. I wrote a story about asking each of my kids the question: "If you could change your life to be just perfect, what would you change?" (I asked them in private so their answers wouldn't be influenced by the others.) It was an awesome learning time for me about each of my precious kids. Now, of course, I didn't have a photo with them answering the question, so I just included photos of what they looked like at that time.
One of the life stories is about how one winter my mother used to warm up our shoes with the oven door open because our heat had been cut off. My dad had deserted our family and the heating bill was unpaid. But, I remember that my mom was praising God that we had an oven to heat up the kitchen. Of course, I didn't have a photo of that, but I just recreated the scene with lining up some of our shoes on an open oven door and then I took a photo of it.
There is one surprise benefactor from writing down your life stories. Not only do your kids, grandkids, and others who read your stories benefit, but you benefit too. In Launching a Leadership Revolution, Brady and Woodward state: "It is not enough to just 'experience' experiences. Wisdom is not the by-product of the passage of time. Evaluated experience is where true education occurs." As we write down our stories, we reflect, we ruminate, we evaluate, and we learn. Perhaps that is the greatest benefit of recording your life stories.
If you like this idea but don't know where to start, start with one story. Write it down. Discover the lesson in it. Then share it with someone. If there was any doubt in your mind to the value of doing this, that doubt will be cleared up.
Your life stories are powerful and can help create good emotional health in those you love. Recording your life stories capture their power for others and for you.
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