One gorgeous day last summer a few friends and I sat around a table on an outdoor patio. We were having a great time watching the traffic and enjoying the food before us. At one point I told them a story about being out and having someone holla at me from the window of their car. I was on the phone with my Momma and in the retelling I included that I said, into the phone, "Momma, I just got holla'd at." As the story ended, the table erupted with laughter..after that had some what subsided, my friend said, "the funniest part of that story is that you referred to yourself in the third person as Momma!"--with that the table went quiet and erupted with laughter again as the rest of us laughed that Lisa had misheard me when I said I was on the phone. Needless to say, it was a funny day and has continued to shape conversations, picture captions (I believe there is a facebook album of Hot Mommas), and discussions of if what Lisa heard was really so far from reality. I must admit that I don't usually talk to myself about myself in third person--but if I ever feel inclined I am definitely going to use "Momma." :) With every laugh that has resulted over the past year because of this one story telling escapade I marvel at how it has become an identifying and unifying experience for our little gang.
So I got to thinking about our stories. The ones we tell, the ways they are heard, how new stories build off the old, and how our identities are shaped and change along with our stories. There are many layers of truth, hope, sorrow, inspiration,and direction in our stories. It is in the living, telling, retelling and listening that each of us is invited to shape others' stories and to be shaped by their engagement with our own. It amazes me that stories from my childhood resonate in my adult life and continue to form me as I integrate the lessons of the past with present experience and the hope of the future.
Recently I have been privileged to have some inspiring conversations with Moravian clergy and friends. In many denominational circles the conversations of tradition and communal identity are key to understanding the roles we play and the ways we engage with one another and more importantly** the world around us. Growing up in a Moravian pastor's house left me no chance of getting out of being shaped by the Moravian story...which by the way is far too long for this particular blog post, i would be glad to point you towards further reading if you so desire. One of the most interesting things about growing up has been living into and through the stories that shaped me, shaping them and starting some new tales along the way.
Like the story telling experience last summer some stories actually show their value when they are misheard or incomplete. We happen into new ideas that lead us further along the path of discovery. The beauty of the stories that shape us is only partly in the story itself and partly in the experiences of its telling. What are your stories? Who would you like to tell your story too? What might becoming part of your future story as you live it right now?
Sometimes we are too quick to write the endings of stories before we get a chance to experience the changes that add laughter, hope and joy as friends add their own marks to who we are and who we are becoming through story and its telling.
(**author's emphasis and opinion)
No comments:
Post a Comment