You Have a Story to Tell
“We will not hide them from [our children];we will tell the next generation…” –Psalms 78:4a
God clearly instructs grandparents to “tell” the next generations “the praiseworthy deeds of God, His power and the wonders He has done” (Psalms 78:4). In other words, we are commanded to be Story Tellers in our family. One way we do that is through the telling of our own stories.
Telling our stories includes our family history, but not only our family history. Even more crucial is how God has revealed Himself through our story. What does our family history and personal journey say to the next generations about God’s power, wonders and praiseworthiness?
Six Suggestions
Here are six suggestions to help you tell your story so that another generation will know who God is and what it means to be a child of God. Do this when your grandchildren are with you, or at a family reunion. You can also write them in a Family Journal or record them on tape.
- Describe your family of origin. Here’s what I mean:
a. Layout your family tree showing several generations of your family lines, and some of the related stories you know.
b. What was your own family like? Who were your siblings (if you had any)? Describe your relationship with your father and mother.
c. If you were adopted, what was that like for you as you got older? - When and why did you become a Christ-follower? What prompted you to respond to Christ’s invitation of grace? How has the Gospel changed who you are and how you live?
- Describe at least one kairos moment in your life – a significant point in time when your life trajectory changed dramatically (other than when you became a Christian, got married or had a baby)?
- Be open and honest about sharing a significant wound or hurt you experienced. Do you still live with it? How has it impacted you?
- How do you most want to spend your remaining years on earth? If there were no physical or financial limitations, and failure was not an obstacle, would anything be different?
- What do you want your legacy to be?
While some of these questions are difficult to talk about, they are part of who you are and what God is doing in your life. Your grandchildren need to hear your story, including the hard stuff because it impacts their story too.
However, remember that our story is really about God’s story. We do not tell our story to make much of us, but to make much of Him.
GRANDPAUSE: If you build upon yourself your edifice will be a mere ruin. –Augustine
This sounds great! Thank you! It gives me a framework to get started on this very important part of sharing myself with my grandchildren.
Thanks! This gives me a framework to begin with sharing this very important part of who I am with my grandchildren!
Hooray! You know I’ve spent the past dozen years or so encouraging people to write their “God and me” stories. I’ll share your post on my Spiritual Memoirs 101 Facebook Page. Richest blessings to you all at Christian Grandparenting!
I too was concerned about leaving a good inheritance to my children’s children. So, I wrote a cute little children’s picture book about Jesus to pass on the legacy of God’s grace.
The main character in the book is my granddaughter. Other family members, pets and even familiar backgrounds were included to personalize it for her. I was so blessed when we first read it together. She was three years old, so she read it to me. If you know what I mean. Anyway, while we were reading it, pointing to the illustrations, especially the ones of her, she pointed to an illustration of Jesus and said his name (Jee-hus) for the first time in her life.
It was so wonderful! I felt so satisfied at that moment. It made all the work and investment worth it.
Now, since I have been giving the book out to as many little children as I can to help them discover Jesus, and having a lot of fun doing it, I feel much more purpose, love, and joy in my life. I embrace being a grandfather.
You know how people pass out Christian tracks. I do that with this book. I’m having so much fun, decided to write another one. It’s being illustrated as we speak.
You can actually write a book for free through CreateSpace. You can self-publish it, get a free ISBN#, sell it, Print on demand, and even get discounted copies for yourself, your friends, and your family. Piece of cake if you have time.
God bless the little children.