Storytime

I loved elementary school, but my favorite part of the day was not recess.
Some of the kids were mean;
I was always the youngest among my peers, and not very aggressive;
I did not live in their community, but instead in one outside the school's attendance area;
I've never been athletic....etc.

My favorite part of the day was not lunch.
There were no "lunch choices" in those days.  You walked down the line and the cafeteria ladies filled your green plastic tray with "entree du jour".  You either ate it, or you didn't.  Most of the time there were assigned seats and you had to be relatively quiet as you ate.

No, my favorite part of the day was storytime - - that lovely 15 minutes when the teacher read aloud to the class from some children's classic novel, transporting us into a (usually) imaginary world which provided an escape from reality and especially from the bane of my existence: math.

Why is "story" so powerful?

I'm not a huge Disney fan at present, mainly because I am oppositional to their company values.  But, Disney became the megalith that it is because Disney knows the power of imagination and of stories.  Think of your favorite Disney film.  At the base of it is a wonderful story, with heroes/heroines, villains, good vs. evil, plot twists and, usually, a happy ending.  Alan Key, once a VP at Disney said this:  "Why was Solomon recognized as the wisest man in the world?  Because he knew more stories than anyone else."
I don't know if that is strictly true.  God gave Solomon his wisdom, because Solomon asked.  But, I imagine Solomon was aware of stories' power.

Stories are the most powerful form of human communication.  Our Father is the grandest storyteller of us all.
Of course, it could be argued that God is the grandest anything-and-everything, and that would be true.
But, God created us in His image, giving us spoken language, oral and written history, gifts no other beings on earth possess.  "History, someone said, is His-story", after all.

His best words, His greatest stories are told in the Bible and celebrated throughout the calendar year; but, the two greatest in Christendom are told at Easter and at Advent.

He is constantly writing a story He already knows.  Each person, created in His image, is also writing his or her own story, as we interact with Him throughout our lives.  Even the professed atheist does this, although most of those interactions are rejections of the Author of Life.  God starts the story, but your choices determine the ending.

What is your story?  How will it be changed, for better or worse, as you enter this Advent season?
Regardless of your age, if you still breathe in and out, your story is ongoing.  Will you write it to intersect with Him this Advent?