Stories Part 5
April 29, 2025
Stories Part 5
Stories take us where we would never have imagined ourselves. Through stories, we glimpse into the lives of others, where we see and feel things that we have never seen or felt. Stories help us fill in the blanks about life’s mysteries and tell us how the universe works and how other people move through the world. Stories tell us about God and the human condition. Stories relay the ravages of evil and the virtues of the human spirit. Stories preserve history and also promote fantasy. Stories can illustrate truth, and they can also circulate lies. But one of the most integral things about them is that they help us remember.
My dear friend and retired ICB faculty member, Dan Miller, tells a very short story that illustrates a veritable truth. His words: “You know when you go to the beach you always bring a little sand back with you? You keep finding the sand in various places long after you return. The grains may be in your shoes, your car, your pockets, your cuffs or in any item you took to the beach. Every time you discover some sand; it takes you right back to the beach. Well, each time you attend an Enneagram teaching, you can’t help but bring back something with you for your life, and you keep receiving reminders every day, of the truths you experienced.”
The image of the grains of sand in Dan’s story made a lasting impression. It’s typical to be “visited” by grains of sand after returning from the beach. And the image beautifully relays the idea that once we walk in the sands of consciousness, much of it returns back to everyday life with us. Images are so powerful and universal that Jesus used them in his teachings — grains of wheat, coins, vineyards, silver, gold, cloth, birds, seeds, soil, weeds, lilies, and sheep are just a few.
For the sake of YOUR story — the story of your life, what would be the best images? Are you like a boat sailing into the horizon, a squirrel storing nuts for winter, a bird gliding above the mountain range, a smoking volcano, a placid lake, a raging river, a cooing dove, a dragon fly, a toad, a tornado, a snoozing cat, a mooing cow, or a waterfall? Perhaps these images match some of the seasons of your life. And maybe other images will come to you.
Yes, stories take us where we would never have gone on our own; and just think of where you can take people by sharing yours. No one ever walked in your shoes, no one has the same experience as you. No one has ever had the same body, mind, or emotions as yours. That makes you a unique expression of the Divine. The combination of your exact personality, mind, emotions, and body have never appeared before, and will never appear again. Your life, and your stories are precious.
Spiritual Practice: Using your selected images for your life, write a brief story (or poem) of your experience as one of those images.
Self-inquiry: How would you argue with someone who says that the stories of your life are insignificant? What if that someone were you?
Dear God,
Help us to see our preciousness and the things we know that only our experience has taught us. Amen
