Day 13 "Storytime!"

Yesterday I lay down on the bench outside staring up at the sky. It made me feel so small, so powerless. I couldn’t control the skies or the weather; I would be so powerless against a storm. I snapped out of my inner thoughts as I heard footsteps approaching, followed by a voice, “Whose converse shoes does that belong to?” Laughing, I sat up and greeted my friend, Chris. He sat down and we began to talk, about nature, about God, and about life. He shared with me parts of his life story, and I felt as though I was introduced to a whole new person.

This, and many other “RETLTDAMC’s” - random encounters that lead to deep and meaningful conversations, :P has led me to understand the impact of a story. Everyone has a story to tell, a background and context of their life. I have received so many incredible insights by just listening to the stories of another person. When we listen, we are opened to a whole new world.

Honestly, when I first started reading the Psalms, I skimmed it, reading through the words, relating as best as I could. But I didn’t realize, that I wasn’t actually “listening”. David, Asaph, Heman, and Ethan all had their own stories to tell, and I was simply reading it without understanding it.

Fortunately, I read the description on the blog for the day, saying, “if you are wondering who is Asaph check out this article“, with the link http://www.hfbcbiblestudy.org/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=482 . In all honesty, I felt reluctant and lazy to open it, with only thoughts of getting the blogging done. But I opened it anyway and glanced through it. Within the first few lines I was absorbed into Asaph’s story, suddenly understanding a little bit more of his feelings when he wrote his psalms. No wonder I was having troubles relating! Try as I may, I couldn’t fully relate to the psalm unless I knew what the writer was going through when he was writing it! Disappointment, betrayal, grief and perseverance were real in Asaph’s life; my troubles could hardly compare to his! 

When he writes, "O God, pagan nations have conquered your land, your special possession. They have defiled your holy Temple and made Jerusalem a heap of ruins..." (79:1) and "Come back, we beg you, O God of Heaven's Armies. Look down from heaven and see our plight" (80:14), I now understand the grief he must have been going through; the person that he thought was going to save God's temple, was actually defiling it! Worse still, Asaph's faithfulness was rewarded with the murder of his brother and continual persecution of his family! Yet through this, he still praised God and trusted in his saving power. 

So, I have thus learnt again the importance of a story. I'm not necessarily saying that we have to thoroughly research about each author before we read anything or shouldn't relate to something we don't know the background to; I'm suggesting that perhaps we can consider that each person is uniquely crafted, and each life has a different perspective and story to learn from! Some of the biggest life lessons I have learnt were from stories of another life. Stories impact lives, and touches hearts. Each story is unique in its own precious way. It inspires, and seek to be inspired. So the next time I have a conversation, I’ll make sure not to just see or hear words, but rather seek to understand a life!

**Disclaimer**
My posts tend to be written about my daily journey in life, as I discover and learn new things everyday. Often it may seem irrelevant to the reading, but I feel as though this way of reflective writing helps me in my walk with God and understanding His word, so I hope that you can relate to my daily insights and possibly receive a different perspective of the readings!