Through the night, the wind kept waking me as a storm swept past the bay. I tossed and turned, falling asleep and then another bang, shudder and howl. I wondered if the rain would leak under the front door, soaking our jarrah floorboards. Worry came knocking around 2 am that the flu that has been hanging in the shadows of my home would settle in to stay.
I stood at the sink today and saw that the passionfruit plant that had taken months to climb up slowly covering the unfinished fence had died, when nobody was looking. I picked up the tea towel off my oven and I stopped mid sentence and remembered her house.
This year we packed up my Grandmothers house, after many decades of living close by and she went reluctantly to a nursing home. Her things divided between family members and honestly, I wasn’t that interested in her belongings, I’d prefer to hold her hand. A box of things, however, were placed on the back seat of my car and my favourite overall the antiques, jewellery and letters were her old linen tea towels.
Most of them antiques in their own right. But each time I hold them, I think of the Carrot Cakes she would bake and the Christmas cookies that no one has managed yet to replicate. My grandmother is old farm stock and I’m sure these pieces of cloth have been held whilst she watched the news on days when history was smashed open and also the days when baked fish was on the menu for dinner.
Story keepers, of the hands that washed them. Story seekers of hearts questioning as they went about daily life with a menial task. Story capsules of the people calling to chat with her on the phone and gossip about that irritating neighbour.
There are moments of our ordinary days, that no one will ever see. Times when words become powerful carriers of emotion and change. When we realise that the stories laden in the processing of our days are the economy of legacy and hope.
Lately, I have been really off Instagram, social media and the hungry machine of content creation. I have been reminding myself of the power and beauty of creativity and story to leave a legacy that remains.
We are the story keepers. We are the story shapers. We are the story holders.
Robyn McKee says it this way:
“Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today.”
Robyn McKee
If you look across history, the main keeper of human wisdom and tenacity has been recorded through story. I strongly believe that somebody needs your story. The highs, the lows, the in-between and the not enough yet.
As we begin to find ways to allow writing to heal, when we show up to our blank pages and work through our stories to find clarity, hope and courage God brings strength in these places.
Human beings are shaped by stories.
We find encouragement through stories.
We leave lessons for those coming behind with stories.
We were born into a story from the narrative of our parents.
We live in the story that we are telling ourselves.
There is a story in the Bible that talks about legacy in the midst of our current story and narrative. Joel was an amazing scholar and prophet, a man of wisdom to his local community. He wrote this;
“Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation”
Joel 1: 3
I wonder what stories will be told to our children’s children about the tone and tenure of our current novel in history. This symphony of peace and chaos, an era of change and technology, ignorance and platforms.
What lessons are we teaching and showing, changing and leaving?
We are the story keepers, the culture changers and the life legacy leavers. As we dig deep into our places of freedom and hope, we unveil the beauty of discovering and wisdom for those who sit alongside. Further more, we leave a trail of inspiration for those who follow behind us.
Write hard, my creative friend. Unveil the promises, lean into the new, discover your voice and allow liberty to set the captives of our hearts free.
She is an Author, Public Speaker and Radio Presenter.
If you would like to help to write hard, here is my online course. Four sessions designed to encourage you in finding, developing and expressing your story. $59 delivers straight to your inbox. If you’d like a simple download tool as a process to help you answer all the questions about publishing and writing. I developed this tool for $9.95 just for you. Somebody Needs Your Story.
Love love love.
I am a huge believer in this, especially in this present generation.
I want my mum to write her story of arriving as a child of poor migrants in the 1950’s. They grew up very poor, but they were happy, but it wasn’t without significant challenge that is just unknown to us today. The oldest of eight children and the daughter of a Japanese POW, there is so much gold in her story that simply must be recorded for the legacy of my children, and their children and beyond.
So much has changed in a short 70 years for my children to even have a basic understanding of where they’ve come from living the life they have now. I am going to share this post and we’re going to get your writing course because the story just can’t wait any longer.
I was in your Grandma’s kitchen reading your words, this was such beautiful writing Amanda. Xx