When our kids are young,
It’s the story they yearn to hear.
Don’t tell them facts, figures, or meanings,
Help their imagination grow
But do it with the truth.
After church today and a long-needed nap
I began to think about the service
The message I felt from God
And the liberty I had to share
Suddenly, I realized I was responsible,
To tell you a story of God.
And old song, the chorus I sang as a solo
Tell me the story of Jesus,
Write on my heart every word;
Tell me the story most precious,
Sweetest that ever was heard.
That song in italics, written 140+ years ago
It was published in approximately 1880.
Written by Fanny J. Crosby,
One of the best Christian Songwriters
With a great library of telling stories by song.
She was born over 200 years ago,
1820 was a very long time ago.
With over 8,000 poems and songs to her credit
She would paint the picture of love
With words imagined from what her eyes never saw.
Why? She was blinded at just a few weeks old by a sickness
There is no way she remembers anything that those young eyes had seen
But there’s something to be said about seeing with your senses
What words she applied to a life, and she did it melodiously.
Maybe this is what more of us need to do.
Tell a story, but make it true. Only bring it alive!
Make it real. Fill my heart with the words
That taught me more than fantasy or fiction can do.
The next time you are asked to tell a story.
Check your memory and mind, tell some facts
But weave it around a cadence and tone
Give me something wonderful to hang on to.