Stories

You know those trees that are perfectly color coordinated and hung with matching ornaments? The kinds you see in magazines? Yeah, mine is not one of them.

My tree is a hodgepodge of mismatched ornaments.

There is a ceramic “I love you” hand sign I got the year I was taking Sign Language as an undergrad at Alabama. I met my lifelong best friend there - she was my Sign Instructor and we have loved and supported one another ever since.

Also on the tree is a wreath made of dog bones with a picture of Bama. Growing up, she was my family’s beloved pet Peekapoo.

I have several church ornaments, given to us by congregation members though the years.

There are ornaments from Prince Edward Island, Canada that we bought on a trip way back in 1999. We took that trip just a few months after the miscarriage of our first child. We said goodbye to her there on the red beaches of the Island that I have loved all my life because it was the home to Anne of Green Gables.

I still hang ornaments given to me by seminary friends and by my mentor from our very first church. She took it right off of her tree when I admired it, and she gave it to me to remind me of her love for me.

Now, with my nerdy boys, we have ornaments celebrating Star Wars, Thomas the Tank Engine, Optimus Prime, Wonder Woman and the Tardis (those last 2 are totally mine😉)

None of our ornaments are especially expensive or fashionable, but every one holds a story. Our tree tells the story of our lives. Every year when we unwrap and hang these ornaments, I remember where they came from and the stories they hold.

I believe there is something sacred about retelling and remembering the stories from our lives. It is a space for us to remember the grace and the tears, the sweet smell of a newborn baby and the way our dog scratched at the glass door when we walked down the sidewalk and entered our childhood home.

Sifting through these memories, I find God there. I see God’s movement and presence in the stories I tell. This is something that God’s people have been doing throughout the ages - telling stories and seeing God there within them.

Psalm 136 is a beautiful example of this. It is sometimes called the Great Hallel - the great hallelujah. Throughout the history of the Israelites, they would sing this duet - a call and response, sharing the great works and faithfulness of God. Over and over in the psalm, the leader would call out the events of Israel’s history and the people would respond to each statement with “His steadfast love endures forever.” They reminded themselves - proclaimed - that God was faithful and present in all of their stories.

Still today, Psalm 136 is repeated and sung in certain Jewish festivals and celebrations. I loved repeating it every year in our Passover Seder as our churches or friends would celebrate with us on the Thursday night before Easter.

Storytelling and remembering God’s faithfulness is an important practice for me. It is so easy to see an endless string of days and events and to wonder where God has been among them. The truth is - God is always right here with me, even when I don’t feel it. I am grateful for these practices that naturally encourage me to repeat my stories and the places where I found God. I need this discipline; I need to be reminded. Maybe you do too. Let’s together create more spaces to tell the stories of our lives and notice God’s presence there with us.