WRITING YOUR LIFE STORY
Writing your Life Tapestry (also called a Spiritual Life History) can be a meaningful and informative experience. In our ministry training Residency, we ask all residents to write a Life Tapestry! A Life Tapestry can give you a new perspective on impactful events in your story. It can reveal patterns in your life that you did not know existed. Your life story can give you insight about purpose and direction for your life. Perhaps most importantly, you will see ways in which God has worked in your life! Below are two approaches to your life story: LIFE TAPESTRY - PROSE and LIFE STORY - CHARTED followed by SUGGESTIONS for both. Select the approach that is suited to you and dive in!
LIFE TAPESTRY - PROSE
In the Life Tapestry - Prose format, you write out your life story. Using the prompts about life events, markers, relationships, and gifts, you tell your story your way over time. This format is the format that we use for the Residency. If you like to write or if you journal often, this format is for you. Click on the Prose Button to see the Prose Prompt.
LIFE TAPESTRY - CHARTED
In the Life Tapestry - Charted format, you explore life events using a chart and ratings. This approach is more closely guided and has more structure. If you like lists or if you feel that you want close guidance in the process, this this format is for you. Click on the Charted Button to see the Charted Prompt.
SUGGESTIONS FOR YOUR LIFE TAPESTRY
Be as honest and as vulnerable as you can. A Life Tapestry is an introspective process in which you explore your heart, your feelings, and your desires as well as your factual history.
Take your time in working on your Life Tapestry. Be thorough in the process. Work on it, and then let it rest. If you don’t feel inspired or motivated, put it down for a time and then come back to it.
Use your computer or a digital file for your writing. A Life Tapestry can be a useful tool for your life. One Resident initially wrote a 30 page Life Tapestry. That Resident has revisited the Life Tapestry through years of ministry for growth and for direction, and has added to it over time. The Life Tapestry is now over 130 pages long.
As you review the events of your life, ask the Holy Spirit for guidance and for perspective. Look for patterns that emerge from the rhythms and the fluctuations in your life.
When you have completed the initial Life Tapestry, ask a mentor or spiritual director to review your Tapestry and to meet with you about it. Listen to insights from a trusted advisor about what your Life Tapestry contains and what it reveals.
Use your Life Tapestry for decision making in your life. The ways in which the Lord has previously worked in your life contains clues as to your life purpose and direction, your gifts, and areas of needed growth.
We all have areas of self-deception. Use the Tapestry process to identify areas of challenge or of struggle. But receive GRACE as you go through the process. The Lord loves us fully even in our times of weakness, of challenge, and of failure.
There is usually huge benefit in a healthy Life Tapestry process. Typically, the more time you put into it, the greater the benefit.
The Lord desires that His children grow into maturity and into fullness in Him (Eph 4:13)!