Voices of Living stories

                                                           Voices of living stories.


There is only one you - and your voice is one of a kind as well, completely unique, given to you by the Maker of all things as he formed and knit you together in the womb, out of sight.
A voice unlimited by vocal cords, a voice that goes deeper and speaks louder than words!

      With this voice you tell your story without making audible sound. Unique and beautiful!


You are always heard by God, - always!
It is a promise that he hears us, sees us, and is never far away. Not just because he is omnipresent and can't help it, but rather because he loves us and is genuinely interested in us.
We don't have to yell to be heard!! Neither do have to act out, perform etc. to be seen.

As you live out your story, your voice is both a soloist and part of a choir.
At times you may be leading - a group, a project, a person as a mentor, but
at the very same time that is happening, you are also part of the most beautiful choir ever created, where the intertwining of stories and blending of voices happen.

Wow - picturing that leaves me amazed and filled with wonder at the incredible creativity of our Creator. Oh, to be able to see and hear this from above for a day. What a symphony we must make.

A choir sounds amazing when all the voices blend, become one, and yet if you let all the different harmonies wash over you it makes you feel like being touched by a wind-gust, not quite knowing where it came from or when it started, only you felt it surround you, touch you and almost go through you.

With these pictures and metaphors in place, a question rises to be asked;
How do you know when to be a soloist in the choir and when to blend in?
There are many leaders, and many we wish would step back and be part of the choir.....
It is always good and sobering to check the motives of the heart before stepping out and in to a leading position. What is driving the motivation to do this, what is fueling my desire. Don't let yourself be deceived, don't be satisfied by easy answers - be willing to let the Holy Spirit reveal truth.

If you are the laugh of the party....... if you are the talker of the group...... if you are not just the silent, but through silence a skeptic......if you are always waiting to be asked for your opinion versus partaking in the discussion etc.

Are you willing to follow the path to the underlying current leading your voice - to truth?

Another question also rises:
Are you able to recognize when your voice is being drowned out - your story overtaken?

You have seen this taking place in the plant world.
 This spring walking through the woods I came upon a green plant with cute, star-shaped white flowers, from each branch, tendrils like telephone cords making loops in the air, catching itself or whatever was within reach. Fun and beautiful in its quirky way, it was stretching sky bound and also slinking along the ground, spreading and slowly overtaking plant after plant, bending and chocking it in the process.










And most likely you have encountered friendships or couples where one is choking/dominating the other, leaving you wondering why they allow this to happen.
                                                  Or maybe they don't feel it ...... anymore.

This doesn't normally happen overnight - so how do you detect the 'tendrils'?
How to you recognize that you are in a relation/friendship where your voice is being drowned out, your story dominated and slowly being consumed by another's?

The signs are innocent and murky and can start as simple as choosing differently - choosing not according to your liking, but discarding  that over what you think your friend/fiancee/spouse would prefer. Does this sound innocent and no big deal?
It totally can be just that - if it's a once in a while occurrence, because we do many things out of goodwill and love etc.
But there is a fine balance. You have to listen - listen if the tone in our mind has changed subtly to a question like; "this one or that one",  and then to the reason your choice is based on
 
  Are you defending your choice one way or other? Making vague excuses, pulling reasons out of the air to cover up the true reason...... then the scale is unevenly weighted.

Your voice is no longer harmonizing, but either being drowned out or taking over

How much is too much...... I don't have your answer for that - but I do believe you know when you are compromising, when your dreams are dying, desires no longer followed. Then your story has become so overtaken by 'the other living story' that your voice can no longer be heard......

Some people have needs they try to fill by raising their voice with which they tell their story, and leave no room for other voices to be heard, no break that would allow you to speak, - any attempt would be swallowed up and quenched so the focus would again be on them......
Simple truth in a quote by Simon Sinek;
"There is a difference between listening and waiting for your turn to speak"
There are people who leave no space for anybody but themselves in their story.
What a lonely, boring and exhausting way to live.

So beware dear fellow sojourner - your story is meant to be told through that beautiful and unique voice of yours.Sometimes as a soloist, but  always as a significant part of the human choir.

But whatever part your voice has in your story, be it a soloist for a season or the unique part of the human choir - let God's voice be heard simultaneously with yours.
               You live  because he desired you be and your story is part of his story.

-b


A peek at the 3rd. and final part of Living Stories

                                                       Three words........a sentence.

 Arriving suddenly out of nowhere it landed gently in my thoughts leaving me stunned that so few words, with blunt accuracy, managed to sum up the depth of consequence in events that happened long ago.
For years my heart has searched for and tested words to frame - not describe what happened - but in one sentence somehow sum it up in all it's width and depth.

                                                         
A sentence tugged away waiting,,....... like a dress waiting for the right occasion on which to be worn.

Writing: Living Stories, there was a point where my thoughts went reeling, not only with the incredible layering of colors as our stories meet and intertwine (yes, you should go back and read it) but also with the affect this intertwining has. Good or bad.

........