My adult children gave me an unusual gift for my 70th birthday. It was a one year subscription to an online company called Storyworth. This company helps people write stories about their lives by answering a different question online each week.
They provided a suggested list of topics and ideas. In addition I could write about things that I thought would be important to include in this one-year project. For example there were questions asking me to describe what my father and mother were like. I was asked to share about memorable family vacations when I was a child. There were other questions asking me to share about things I did in High School, jobs I had during college and how I met my future wife.
Initially I thought my task was to just respond to different questions. But then I began to see this as an opportunity to tell my children and grandchildren about my family’s history and provide information on my ancestors.
Another part of this project was adding pictures and photographs to the stories I had written. My wife helped me locate photographs of my parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. I also included some pictures of my wife’s parents and her siblings. We found some pictures of me when I was very young and as a teenager. There are also some photos of our wedding and our own children when they were young. I have included over 150 pictures in this project.
I was asked to write one story a week for a whole year. I started in August 2020 and just completed my assignment in August 2021. All of the stories and pictures will be combined into a book and I will give a copy to each of four our children and one to my wife. There are over 350 pages in this book about my life.
As with any project it has taken more time than I expected. My wife and I have spent hours and hours locating pictures and editing each story. My children have sent us pictures too. Remember – this was their idea. It has been a lot of work. But it has also been rewarding to record things about my life, my faith and our family. I hope it will be a helpful reminder of God’s faithfulness for future generations. Let me encourage you to take the challenge. I’m sure there are many companies that offer this kind of opportunity. Don’t wait until it is too late. Get started this month. You will be glad you did and your children and grandchildren will too!
(You can read 365 more stories in the book “Let Me Encourage You” by Mark Hopper – an encouraging story for every day of the year. Right now you can purchase 2 books for only $30 plus postage. The holidays are coming. Mark’s book makes an inexpensive and encouraging gift for family members and friends. Order several books now during this pre-holiday sale at Markh@efreedb.org.)
Let Me Encourage You by Mark Hopper 