Stories of Destiny

 

Helen Keller's is a favorite story

“ I realized that story needs to be tended with truth, vulnerability, change, and inquiry in order to hold its integrity.” Padraig O’Tuama

When I came across the quote above, something resounded in my soul. The “how” of story-telling can be as important as the “what”.

Most of my life I have loved stories, especially biographical. I have loved unexpected courage and restorative justice. That passion has translated in many ways into preaching. That which shimmers for me in Scripture and the scripture of life, is often realization of identity in God, conversion from one way of being to another, dignity appreciated and honored, and kindness, always kindness. All stories tended with the kind of exquisite scrutiny O’Tuama describes radiate an underlying holiness which seems to be that which Creation intended.

And there it is, the word “in-tended”. Perhaps our entire lives become more meaningful when tenderness soaks and drenches our life stories, our selves and souls and bodies.

In the end I believe that all of this is about integrated identity, ours and the cosmos’, telling stories which shape and define, joyful and sorrowful. Not story for story sake, not mere entertainment; but story for transformation and inspiration for living into divine destiny.