Today I have the privilege of sharing a guest post by my platform mentee and friend, Mary Rose! She recently launched her blog Mary’s Rose Garden and newsletter of the same name, and her blog posts are amazing. If you enjoy this post, I highly encourage you guys to check out her website and subscribe to support another young writer!

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‘You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.’
Acts 3:15 NIV

A love of stories is part of the human condition. Ever since the dawn of time, man has spun tales through paintings on cave walls and glyphs on papyrus to paperback books and silver screen films. The purpose of stories was to teach lessons just as much as to entertain. Whether it was terrifying tales of monsters in the woods or valiant chronicles of the persistence of true love, each one had an important story to tell. People have gathered around the fire to hear everything from family stories, myths, local gossip, and more. But why is humankind so infatuated with telling and hearing these fables? Well, we are made in the image and likeness of our Creator who is the ultimate storyteller, after all. 

Time is our Lord’s blank pages and we are the intentionally placed words penned onto them.

God is our all loving Author who places each pen stroke into our lives with the utmost care.

Each ‘character’ is totally and infinitely known by this supreme Author while each plot line is perfectly followed and cared for. God knew how the story started and how it will ultimately end even before it began. He knew how important stories and books were to His children. He knew how important the Bible would be to them as it is the greatest story ever told. There are prophecies and poetry alongside great warriors and kings all ultimately for the glory of God. Even when our Lord was physically with us here on Earth, He knew the value of fables. 

When our Lord was with us, He taught us complex lessons through parables. These stories were simple and memorable yet the content of them were important lessons that He preached. The genius behind them was that they were relatable and understandable to the people of that day just as they are in the present day. There are no long, complex explanations to understand the meanings of them. These tales have seeped into daily conversations through terms such as the ‘Prodigal Son’ (Luke 15:11-32) and the ‘Good Samaritan’ (Luke 10:25-37). These parables are timeless in a way few things are. Our Lord, in His all knowing goodness, knew that mankind needed stories to better learn the lessons we need to reach eternal salvation. 

Stories are the lifeblood of humankind. We tell stories because we are made in the image of God who is the perfect Author. We loves stories because God loves His story: the story of humankind. The Bible itself is a testament of that. Storytelling as well as all forms of art are the one aspect that truly differentiates man from animal. It shows that we have a soul. The parables Jesus taught were proof that He knew how important this was to the human race. Our Lord truly is the Master Storyteller.