Tell It Again!

Tell It Again!

I love a good story. I always have.

One chilly Sunday evening, tucked into a booth at a noisy taqueria, I heard one I liked a lot.

It was told in tandem and had no doubt been repeated several times already, although it was scarcely twenty-four hours old. The tellers of this particular story were young and in love. One of them is my oldest niece. On Saturday, he had asked her to marry him, and on Sunday we grabbed dinner together so I could hear all about the night before. I’d been anticipating the story for a while, so while we enjoyed generous plates of shrimp tacos and quesadillas, the tale unfolded one more time for my benefit.

She started it. He filled in a few colorful details. Both of them are actors, so the story’s execution was as enjoyable as the content. I felt like I had seen the whole thing: the ring in the tiny blue box, the shaking hands, the question, the answer, the pictures and phone calls and oddly timed tears. They told it to me, and they’ll tell it again. To their friends. To their extended families. To their children one day, and maybe to their children too. I pray that it grows sweeter to them every time they do.

The best stories never get old. No matter how many times you hear them told, you’re never sad to hear them again. Martin Luther is reported to have replied, when asked by his parishioners when he planned to stop preaching the same old gospel story to them, “I will stop preaching it when you no longer need to hear it.” Clearly, he did not anticipate that that day would ever arrive.

Have you told your story lately? The one about how God found you? About how he rescued you, or comforted you, or healed you? How he held you, tested you, or gave you the desires of your heart? No one else can tell it like you can. You were there. You know the details. Your story bears telling again.

On her left hand, my niece wears the first few lines of a story. I can’t wait to see it grow richer and deeper with time and with every telling.

Your name, God, evokes a train of Hallelujahs wherever it is spoken, near and far; your arms are heaped with goodness-in-action.

Psalm 48:10, MSG