Narrating My World

When my kids were little, I used to read them books, books, and more books for our homeschool. Some books were great; I knew my kids were listening and engaged and really into the experience. Other books were yawners--full of great information, maybe, but not exactly the thing to keep you glued to the edge of your chair. If a book was really great, I knew it; if a book stunk, I knew it. But mostly I couldn't tell what was going on in those young minds as they listened--or not!--to what I was reading. So we began the practice of narration. I would read a section; they would tell back to me what they had heard. I would read; they would respond, letting me know that they were paying attention, learning, interacting, letting me know that these words birthed in the mind of a creator were not falling on passive, unaware, unappreciative ears.

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." Genesis 1:1.

The world: God's masterwork. Better than any book but similar in that it sprang from the mind of a creator and offers itself for our consideration. We are not insensate; we were given the ability to see and hear and taste and smell and feel, to think and respond and understand. In the same way I spoke into silence, hoping my children would attend and listen and hear and respond, God spoke into the silence and created the heavens and the earth and all that is in them. Do I hear? Do I see? Am I paying attention? Sometimes I don't know that I am. Sometimes I sit passively by, convincing myself that I see and hear and understand, and yet still a part of me hangs back. Do I respond? Do I engage? Do I meet with God's creation of matter and mind and spirit through the full use of my senses and sensibilities? Narrating is my attempt to do that--to not only notice and pay attention, but to engage and respond and relate to what God has put into my world--and ultimately, to respond and relate to God himself.

So here goes! Let's see where it takes me.
Rachel