I Like Stories

Even though I can’t actually remember my parents reading me any stories when I was young I’m sure they did. When my sons were small there was nothing I enjoyed better, at the end of a busy day, than to sit up on the sofa or in one of their beds and read to them. Sometimes it was just one short story and other times it would be a chapter of a popular book.

One holiday in Wales the weather was appalling with day after day of rain and so we started to read one of Arthur Ransome’s adventure books. Each one of our three lads would sit enthralled as I read chapter after chapter with each character having a different voice. However did I remember which person went with each voice?

Anybody who has read to young children will know how important it is to keep to the right story line. You may read the same story over and over again and just when you think they are dropping off to sleep and you skip a few lines or even a whole chapter to get to the end of the book, a little dreamy voice says “you missed a bit”. Oh well back to script.

I also sometimes made up my own storyline with a little bit of mystery, a pet, some friends and an ordinary day turning into something extraordinary - now where have come across that before? I would sometimes even tell a story with one of the lads or all three as the main characters - how they loved that!

Remembering all this has lead me to reflect on my own story and the part others have played in writing it. There are some who I value greatly and others who, quite frankly, I wish had never been part of my life. But my story is made up of good things and some not so pleasant; that’s what life is.

There are plenty of biblical characters with some amazing stories but I often think how on earth did that person’s story come to be in the “holy” bible, surely it should only contain references to upright, honest and holy people. What of Moses the murderer, David the adulterer, Peter the denier, Thomas the doubter.

I’m glad though that it doesn’t. My story is reflected in those of many in the bible who ultimately found their place in God; loved by Jesus and worked on by the Holy Spirit and adopted by the heavenly Father.

My story has some unfinished chapters - I am a work in progress, as they say, so how about yours?