Our Story — A #FiveMinuteFriday Meditation
Telling our story implies narrating a book that is already written—the setting and characters are in place. Everyone is just waiting to see how it ends.
That might be right for a novel or memoir, but when we tell our personal stories, it’s not just about the ending. Every part of our story–our whole story–resonates.
The setting matters; it’s how we got started. The characters matter; they are who was there from the beginning and who we met along the way. The conflicts matter; they’re the obstacles that we’ve already faced that prepare us for the ones we’ll encounter tomorrow.
Our story’s opening pages continue to impact future chapters. They explain where we came from. It’s our circumstance and who loved us.
Our loved ones are more than characters. They are the threads of our story’s tapestry that gives it texture and color. They are the ones that raised us, watched us grow, and prayed for our happiness. They wiped tears and bandaged knees. Our siblings double-dog-dared us and don’t-you-dared us. They gave us the un-sugared truth, even when we were begging for sweetness. They got in scrapes with us and ran and hid with us when we almost got caught.
Our story features other people: ones we took for granted and who turned out to be our fiercest friends. We had friends that turned out to be as temporary a comfort as last nights’ take-out. Our story is made up of these people, both the ones that cheered us on and put us down. Our story is filled with companions that offered late night giggles and beer, joined us in early morning games and coffee, and worked by our sides. They, too, are our story.
Our story isn’t a success story. It’s an in-process story. It’s a story of tried, but failed, or maybe just got by. It’s the story of all the times we had to get back in the saddle. It’s a story of dancing in the rain and huddling in the dark in fear. It’s a story seeking the limelight juxtaposed against venturing back into the light to inspect the damage of a storm.
Our story is what happened yesterday and how we feel about it today.
Our story isn’t not pre-written or pre-ordained. At least the details aren’t. We’re not writing it. We’re living it, sharing it, and—hopefully—loving it. It’s what we are and all we have.
Today’s post is part of Lisa-Jo Baker’s “Five Minute Friday.“ Each Friday she broadcasts a writing prompt, challenging writers to write for five minutes only. In her words, “It’s not a perfect post, not a profound post, just five minutes of focused writing.
Confession: Today I took a little longer–not much, though.
This is a great writing exercise even if you’re not blogging your treasures (memories). Your spontaneous thoughts on a given subject can reveal your personality, daily life, beliefs, etc. If you are blogging, I encourage you to join in! If you want to connect on Twitter, use the hashtag #FiveMinuteFriday.
This week’s prompt: Story
#FiveMinuteFriday
“No extreme editing; no worrying about perfect grammar, font, or punctuation.
Unscripted. Unedited. Real.”
This is truly beautiful writing. I especially love this – “Our story isn’t a success story. It’s an in-process story. It’s a story of tried, but failed, or maybe just got by.” So often in this world, our focus is on success. Always success. But, as you so eloquently point out, these stories we are living aren’t about success. We are in process, in the middle of our stories, all on our individual roads. And the important part? The trying at endeavors we love. The sometimes just getting by, surrounded by those all important characters. That, I think, is true success. Thanks so much for sharing this!
Thank you so much Abby!
Thank you for sharing! I don’t think anyone will come and get you if you go over the 5 minutes – nobody has chased me down yet!
Patty
Thanks Patty. It’s a great prompt this week!
I loved your reminder about all the other character that play a part in our story. It challenges me to be the best “Supporting Character” I can be, to those others around me who I have the privileged to be a part of their story. Great post!
You’ll have to change your name to the not-so-horrible-hag, aka best supporting character, lol.
Thanks for reading and visiting.
I loved the prompt this week and your post. I could have used an extra 35 minutes!
I agree!
Laura, this is beautiful, our lives’ stories are ongoing and thank God we have many participants, God being the central figure. May we all write/tell beautiful stories that would glorify Him and show forth His praises to our world.
Thanks Bosede. I’m thankful for all the characters and adventures of my story.
Great post! I just did my first one today. It was different… but still cool. I can’t get much wrote in 5 minutes, though. Hah! Anyway… good job 😀
Thanks so much. I usually can’t get much done in 5 minutes either. “Story” was a great prompt for me. Glad you’re joining in.
Laura