Book Week

“Book an Adventure”

If you looked at my life from the outside, I’d forgive you for thinking that it was boring.  But when I take the opportunity to tell its stories, that’s a different matter.  I’m still baffled by the confused, crazy, good and challenging life that God has dished up for me and the best way I have found to understand something of this ride is by retelling the events of my life.  Simply put, stories are nearly always the best way we can come to understand ourselves and others.

Jesus understood the power of story.  He didn’t leave a rule book for us to live by but rather commissioned a group of disciples to go out to the world and tell his story.  And he made his mark as a preacher by the stories he told.  Not that his listeners understood them.  The parables baffled the people of his time as much as they baffle us.  They are stories that only reveal their meaning when we try to live by them.

Telling our stories is one of the most powerful ways we can influence our children.  Telling our stories lets them come to know and understand what it means for them to be members of a family, of a community and indeed of a nation.  But we need to take care.  My Mum had a shocker of a childhood and I think she recounted those stories too early for me.  On the other hand, Dad loved his mother dearly and I wish I knew more about what inspired such a passion in him.

As your children celebrate Book Week with its motto, “Book an Adventure”, this could be a good time for you to celebrate the adventure of your life with them.

Loving Father, open our minds and hearts to the power and wonder of story-telling.  Inspired by Jesus’ stories may we tell our own to our children and lead them into the deep bonds that make community. We ask this in his name, confident that you will hear us.  

Sr Kym Harris osb