Another Celebration

This past week my great-uncle, Austin, passed away. I don't know why, but I always thought it was normal for kids to have four sets of grandparents: my mom's parents, my dad's dad and stepmom, and his mom and stepdad, and "Pa Pritchett and Grammy Ruth." Austin and Ruth were grandparents to me, and great mentors to my parents. We spent Christmas with them, and many wonderful family gatherings were held at their home.

Ruth passed away when I was very young, but I remember her energy and love for her grandchildren. Austin was the storyteller. If it had not been for him, I never would have learned the history of my family or of the community in which I was raised. These weren't gossipy stories, they were the way history was passed down from generation to generation. And Austin was the keeper of those stories. Even the one's we may have felt ashamed about - or the one's that held great pain. There was something to learn from our story.

Storymaking God,
help me remember Austin and his stories.
Guide me in telling those stories, and
challenge me to become a storyteller, too,
that the story lives on and never dies; that it becomes
something new in each and every moment.
Amen.