I was serving as a greeter at my church one Sunday. If you’ve ever done this, you know you’re probably going to say, “How are you?” dozens or hundreds of times as you welcome people. And you’ll often hear some version of “Good, how are you?” in response.
This week, however, I found myself tuned into a common set of replies.
“I’m hanging in there.”
“I’m surviving.”
A handful of people responded in this way, and I realized they were probably being honest. But was that the whole story?
Dr. Leonard Sweet coined the term “narraphor” in his book Tablet to Table. It’s a combination of the words narrative and metaphor. And it’s so applicable to our perspectives – the stories we tell ourselves which are steeped in metaphor.
I thought back to metaphors that had filled my own language:
I can’t catch my breath.I’m drowning.I feel like I’m on a runaway train.I feel like I can’t get off the treadmill.
I felt like, in my life, I was just running this marathon and had no time to slow down.No wonder nobody really wanted to be a part of what I was doing in that season. Who would volunteer to be in that story?
I was dwelling in my story of overwhelm. Yes, I was busy by all accounts. But what do these stories say about how we view the abundant life Jesus came to offer?
As leaders, we want to create life-giving environments that help people thrive. We can use narraphor to tell a better story – one that shares the heart of what we do and speaks of the beautiful things in our lives.
I was challenged, that day as a greeter, to think about what I was doing in my life that was writing those stories in my mind: treadmill, runaway train, drowning. I deconstructed them. I rediscovered the beautiful and true parts of God’s work that could be more readily reflected in my words, actions, and attitude.
This practice of rewriting our narraphors is important. The next generation is more vulnerable than ever to harmful storytelling. Social media and cultural icons are bombarding them with stories that are unhelpful. Or worse, harmful.
I’m not worthy. I’m not enough. My voice doesn’t matter.
With God’s help and the right tools and guidance, we can rewrite our stories. It’s such an important practice, for our students and for ourselves. That’s why it’s one of the topics of our focus at this year’s Communicators for Christ conferences.
At the Communicators for Christ conferences my organization hosts, we journey with students, parents, educators, and youth workers to learn how to identify the stories we are telling ourselves. Then we explore tools and practices that help us analyze and rewrite them when necessary.
Part of being ready to speak is being ready to tell stories that are helpful, beautiful, and true. Stories that take in the whole of what God is doing in our lives, as much as we understand it. Stories worth telling.
Blog post originally from teresamoon.org
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