Telling Our Stories

Remember the people from whom you have come. (Gaelic proverb)

Do you have a grandmother, favorite aunt, long-ago friend who you now recall and feel strengthened and richer for having had them in your life? Remembering these people "from whom we have come" is a powerful source of courage and perseverance. As Christians, we not only have our natural geneology and memories, but also our spiritual family of faith. We can claim lineage with all who believed--from the Christian family around us today way back to the apostles and early Christians, and even further to David, Joshua, Moses, Abraham and Sarah--all who lived by faith.
Have you ever thought about your lineage? Have you imagined the people you came from? How did they arrive in America, or Canada, or Phillipines, or England, or Mongolia? Where did they settle? Were they farmers? Business owners? Factory or railroad workers? What challenges, hardships and losses did they battle through?

What did they look like? Do you have their eyes, same color hair, their build or backbone? Have you benefitted from their dreams or hard work? Did they fall in love, sing when their heart was breaking , laugh until tears streamed down their face? Try to picture them. Do you think they pictured you?

I love how Hebrews 11 tells us we're surrounded by them--by a "great cloud of witnesses." Their same bloodline flows through us, one faith, one hope. We hear of their stories, their endurance, their faithfulness against the odds . . . We then consider our own. We pick ourselves up by their example. They carried on and so will we.

Good things can still happen. And if not in this life time, then in the next, for our future is in heaven and our legacy is left here on earth for our descendents. Someday a grand-daughter, or a great-great-great grand-daughter or neice, or friend of a friend's daughter will be widowed and come across our stories. A song entitled "Generations," by Sara Groves sums it up like this: "Generations will reap what I sow . . . I can pass on a curse or a blessing to those I will never know." She ends it with singing to her great-great-great grandchildren to "live in peace."

That's why we tell widows stories on Wednesdays. So others will live in peace. We're all connected and hope never dies. Look forward to another year of widows' stories--maybe even your's! Volunteer your story or the story of someone you know. Contact me at WCPlace@gmail.com and I'll help you with it. Thanks!

♥ ferree