Storytelling

Kids can see through moral tales, and, chameleon-like, will quickly align themselves to respond as they think will please you. I try to tell stories so that they will listen, experience and respond without automatic “Jesus” answers.

Storytellers often begin their story sessions with the lighting of a candle—entry into another place and time. Listen with us, be transported and inspired.

I keep a file drawer in a small space beside my kitchen—a black, substantial beast of a thing, stolid guardian of the trivia and triumphs of my life. It’s tucked discreetly into a corner of the office where my husband mines possibility thinking about relocalizing the local food system to a cloud of foodies.

That file drawer has been on my mind …. essential tool of another era, landlocked, silently harbouring scribbles once spoken, children’s stories once told—a well-thumbed collection of cue cards virtuously banded with a shred of bias tape.

And so I’ve resolved that my file drawer will offer up its printed word. Eager ears have heard my stories before, as they and I huddled together on the carpeted steps of our worship hall. Small hands have tugged at teddy bears, released balloons to the vaulted ceiling of my local church, cupped fragile eggshells, and shouted “Me, too!” from Sunday to Sunday. And while the adults watched and lived the stories along with them, the children grasped something of God’s power and majesty.

Eager ears can once again hear my words through you, dear reader. Share them anywhere…. change the stories to suit your circumstances, sing them, dance them, shout them, whisper them, but always remember that the power of the Word brought to children is a marvellous thing!

More stories will come …

Nellie

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