Snippet: You Can Tap the Power of Stories

snip·pet | ˈsnipit | noun a small piece or brief extract.

This one is from Betsy Childs Howard:

“Nathan could have handled his showdown with David differently. He could have told the king that he knew all about Bathsheba and Uriah. He could have quoted the Ten Commandments.

Instead, he told King David a story.”

How can you and I tap into this power?

Read and reflect on the Bible; it’s mostly stories. The more you’re immersed in its world, the more its stories will come to mind when you need them.

If you’re a parent, you don’t have to come up with these on the spot. Just make sure your family life is immersed in great stories from books, movies, shows, podcasts, and other story sources. Here’s another snippet that makes that point:

“If you asked a 10-year-old raised in a Christian home whether it was a bad thing to deny Christ, he’d likely give the right answer. But if you read to him The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, he’d experience Edmund’s tragic betrayal of Aslan, followed by his remorse and redemption. The story would expand his moral imagination so that “denying Christ” (or Aslan) would seem less abstract.”

When you hear a great story that helps make an important point or shapes the moral imagination, retell it as soon as you can. That makes it stick in your own mind. It will more likely come to mind in a pinch.

Photo by K. Mitch Hodge on Unsplash (Aslan statue at C.S. Lewis Square)