"All her stories are about..."

"... how badly people treat her."  I blinked, uncertain how to respond.  It seemed a rather harsh thing to say, but having listened to the lady in question on more than one occasion, it was hard to disagree with the assessment. 

I  did not intend my silence to signify agreement.  A perceptive woman of many years experience observing people should not be lightly contradicted.  The clear pattern of behavior was aptly described.  No conclusion was made about character.  The observation was not meant as judgment on personal worth.  Yet I could not comfortably agree.  Not with the memories of my own "poor me" stories nagging at the edges of my conscience.  So I let the matter pass without comment.

Weeks or months later, a similar turn of phrase compelled my attention.  This time, the subject was a woman less well known to me.  The speaker said of her, "All her stories are about how she set some slob straight."

How many stories like that have I heard?  "Boy, I told him!"  "I really put her in her place."  Sometimes such a story, told by someone I like and admire, almost makes me want to cheer.  Sometimes it even makes me envious.  If only I could come up with such clever replies.  If only I were bold enough to tell it like it is, right to his face.  If only I could come off so well in a battle of wits.

But of course, such a victory really gains nothing.  I know from experience that the person on the losing side doesn't usually come away with admiration for the verbal bully.  Rarely do I learn anything from a verbal smack-down.  Lasting, positive change from such encounters is rarer still.  So any story that centers on a display of my superior intellect mostly demonstrates my own pride and arrogance.  I am ashamed to say, I have told more than my share of this kind of story, too.

If someone were to analyze my speech by the point of my stories, what would they find?  Would their conclusions match my flattering self-image?  What are all *my* stories about?  What do I *want* them to be about?  What would be the best, most useful thing for me to tell people? 

I wish that I could say, right now, that the title of this blog is already true.  Because I know beyond doubt that the very best I have to offer anyone has nothing to do with my own talent, or suffering, or intelligence, or character, or compassion, or anything that springs naturally from my own heart.  Trust me, in 40 years of life, I have never produced anything of value apart from God's grace shown by Jesus Christ's sacrificial love on my behalf.   Anything good in my heart and life is a result of the Holy Spirit working in me to make me more like my lord and savior, Jesus.

But since so far my stories tend to be self-centered, self-indulgent, and self-promoting far more often than not, may God grant that this blog will help me practice telling stories with the right focus.  Jesus has worked so many wonders in my life already, and this one is well within the boundaries of his will as expressed in scripture. 

Lord, I turn my story over to you.  May it be to your Glory.