Day 39: The Power of Story
Have you ever read or heard a story that changed your life? Has that story ever come from a close friend? A mentor? An author whom you never knew but seemed to somehow play the role of both?
The beauty of story is that it is one of the foremost vehicles of truth. Partnered with the human imagination, it becomes a powerful tool for our transformation. Stories seem to act like a mirror, a world into which we can put ourselves comfortably without threat of judgment, to see ourselves and to see our reality more clearly than ever before.
Consider the time that Nathan confronted David about his sin with Bathsheba. He invites him to participate in an act of imagination; to give ear to a short story. When David’s anger burns toward the man who unjustly stole and slaughtered another man’s precious lamb, he is confronted with his own treachery.
Have we forgotten that often, a very godly form of love can be expressed through storytelling? In fact, God’s own love is expressed through storytelling! Stories have a powerful way of bringing conviction and hope to broken lives and searching hearts.
This is strange to our modern sensibilities, but I am reminded that story still has its purpose in our world. Time and time again we need the challenge to see; to become aware of ourselves. Story telling helps us do that, and as such, is an act of love.
Questions to Consider
How have you seen and understood yourself more through story? How can you encourage, edify and keep others accountable through story?
Prayer
Jesus, the stories you used to teach your followers are relevant to me today. By the Spirit, show me what you want me to learn from those stories, and most of all, continue to draw me into the most amazing story every created – the story of your love and sacrifice for us.
By Destiny Kennedy, NU Student