Try Storytelling
Do you feel led to finally begin to write your own story? Storytelling is great fun when you reach back into your memory and realize what gems you have to share—some funny, some life-changing, some even miraculous. Writing your autobiography can become a pleasant pastime, but it will take time and effort.
“From time immemorial, storytelling has been an essential part of what makes us human,” writes Rick Perry, editor of The Saturday Evening Post. He continues:
“We think in stories. We daydream in stories. In truth, we spend much of our daily lives weaving narratives to capture and share our experience with others. And we have been doing it for thousands of years. The reason humans use stories is to inform, entertain, persuade, and help us make sense of the world and our place in it.”1
Perry says before the advent of writing, people created visual narratives on cave walls, then moved to oral tradition, passing stories down from one generation to another until today advancing technology has changed how we tell our stories. 2
We all have a legacy to leave by the way we’ve lived our lives. I happen to think we can enlarge that legacy by leaving a written account of some of our experiences.
Two of my longtime friends have published their autobiographies. One retired after decades of flying for a major airline. Then he went back to college and became a professor on a Christian campus. Not long ago he officiated at the wedding of one of his university students. He touched many young lives in his later career.
My other friend, labeled an “oil camp kid” growing up because of where his family lived, spent a lot of time outdoors with “critters” and yearned to be a veterinarian. By working many jobs during college, he not only became a veterinarian but even kept that vocation as an officer in the Air Force. But when he was 31, he was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia. His church held a special healing service for him. Some days later as he lay in an Air Force cancer treatment hospital, the doctor told his wife he probably would not live through the weekend. But that night the Lord touched him with His healing power. That was over 50 years ago, and he is still alive, living with his family on a ranch out west. He demonstrated his love for animals by founding a specialized pharmaceutical company benefiting zoos and free-ranging wildlife worldwide.
I had not really known some of the amazing ways God has used these two men until I read their own stories. Neither did any self-bragging in their memoirs. Both even mentioned mistakes they had made. I was inspired by the challenges they overcame and for their outreach to others–and I told them so.
Now what about writing your story—your autobiography? Why not pray and ask God to inspire you, show you what to tell, and help you use the best words to communicate clearly. Maybe even read someone else’s well written autobiography. I like Arthur Gordon’s books.
I suggest you write like you talk, expressing your own personality. Write so your reader can identify with you. While you need to share the exciting and unusual happenings, it’s okay to share the “ho-hum” times too.
Make time to write. Too many people wait for “spare” time and never get around to writing. Set a goal—maybe deciding you will write at least fifteen minutes a day. On the Internet you can find articles on how to write an autobiography. Reading one may help you create an outline for yours.
You don’t even have to use a computer and printer. My 88-year-old friend is handwriting her memories for her great-grandchildren. They are going to be surprised to learn that she was a church organist at age 13. And probably be inspired by the number of countries where she served as a prayer-intercessor.
You have had fascinating and challenging things happen that are worth sharing, no matter what your life’s course has been. Why don’t you become a storyteller and capture your events on paper? Starting now! Some of your relatives, friends and even strangers will be glad you did.
Scriptures:
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this in the book as a memorial and recite it to Joshua.” (Exodus 17:14 AMP)
Then the servant told Isaac the whole story. (Genesis 24:66 TLB)
Then the woman left her water jar, and went into the city and began telling the people… (John 4:28 AMP)
Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this (Rev. 1:19 NKJV)
Footnotes:
1. “Tell Me A Story,” Rick Perry, Saturday Evening Post, January/February 2024, p.4.
2. Ibid.
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