222: “I Want to Hear Your Story”

I’ve come to learn that relating with people through the lens of “I want to hear your story” is a great way to live. It enriches our lives in more ways than you can imagine.

I started thinking more deeply about this principle when Janet and I visited William Shakespeare's hometown of Stratford-on-Avon in England. Several years later, during a trip to Savannah, Georgia, I witnessed “I want to hear your story” play out in real-time. And more recently, I saw it demonstrated in a church service, where a 20-something law school student shared a story he experienced.

So that’s what I have for you today, three examples of what happens when people live with a mindset of “I want to hear your story.”

But before we get into all this, I’m John Certalic, and you are listening to episode 222 of You Were Made for This, the podcast about finding joy in being the person God created each of us to be. Namely, someone who reflects the character, image, and likeness of God in our relationships.  It’s the THIS, we were made for.

Visiting Shakespeare's hometown

It seems like yesterday, but a number of years ago we were visiting friends who ran a missionary care center in England. They lived not far from William Shakespeare’s hometown of Stratford-on-Avon. So one day we drove over there, and among the things we saw was the Shakespeare museum. It was quite fascinating. Staffed by people wearing Elizabethan costumes, they were 

quite skilled in explaining all things Shakespeare-related.  At one point, a pair of docents asked the group we were with to call out a scene from one of Shakespeare’s plays, and they would reenact it for us. What great fun. We loved it.

But for me, the most interesting part of the museum was its entrance. Painted on the wall was a quote from one of Shakespeare’s plays, The Tempest. It took up the whole wall and read,

I long to hear the story of your life.

The wisdom of these words

The picture you see on our website for this episode is a photo I took with my phone. The wall dominated the museum entrance. You couldn’t escape it.

And I can’t escape thinking about it. Shakespeare wrote 38 plays and 154 sonnets that are known to us. Given the sheer volume of his work, it boggles my imagination to think of why this brief I long to hear the story of your life quote was selected for the only piece of his writing to appear on the wall leading into the museum.

How did the people in charge of the museum decide on this quote rather than many others from his more well-known plays?  Hamlet, King Lear, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet,  all have great quotes that could have been chosen.

But I think the museum directors made an excellent choice. I long to hear the story of your life is such an encouraging thought. It’s uplifting and inspiring. It’s also so counterintuitive. If you’re anything like me, 

I long to TEll you MY story.

Imagine if just 20% of the people you know longed to hear the story of your life? Just 2 out of 10. More importantly, what if I longed to hear the story of YOUR life?

One person who does long to hear the story of our life is God. He wants to hear from us. They call it prayer.

Our trip to Savannah story

The second example of living a I-want-to-hear-your-story life is from another trip we took. This one to Savannah, Georgia. It’s one of our favorite places to visit. We love the history and culture there. On one particular occasion, we arrived at the Airbnb we rented in the early evening, and after unpacking, we went looking for a place to eat.

We found a restaurant nearby that wasn’t very busy. We lucked out with a young, personable waitress, and after we finished placing our order with her, out of nowhere, Janet asked her, “So what’s your story?”

Janet is normally not that bold with strangers, but something prompted her to strike up a conversation with this young woman, which turned out to be quite interesting.  We found out she was a senior at SCAD - the Savannah College of Art and Design.

We learned that she is majoring in theater and plans to go to Hollywood when she graduates to look for a job in the film industry. I don’t understand how a theatre major at SCAD has anything to do with art and design, but I let that go because we were interested in her, not her college.  When people tell you their story you don’t have to make sense out of everything they