On sharing stories

It’s Joel’s birthday today.
He’s 23, although how that’s possible when he only finished nursery a few years ago, I’m not quite sure.

We’ve spent the day together,
mainly eating and drinking,
with the odd game of beer-pong thrown in for good measure.

A few hours ago we started telling the story.
You know the one.
What time he was born.
How much he weighed. 
How long he took to arrive.

Then we move on to who was the heaviest.
At birth, not now, thankfully.
Who took the longest.
And so it goes.

Every birthday it’s the same.
The details.
The questions.
The story.

And isn’t that what connects us?
Not just in families, but in all groups of people.
Our stories are the things that make us feel something.

Something familiar.
Something true.
Something real.

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about restoration.
God is in the restoration business.

He doesn’t just restore,
in the sense of getting things back how they were before.

He is the one who re-stories.
He takes all that is;
all that has been,
and makes it into something new.
Not recycled, but up-cycled.
Changed from glory into glory...
Thank the Lord for that.

So that’s it, my thoughts for today.
I need to go,
the beer-pong needs some supervision...

Lots of love xx





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