A Story That Spanned 50 Years!
Today, I can see how God carefullly wove the events of my life, both good and bad, into a story I can look back on with amazement.
After writing a fun story about renovating our bathroom for A Second Cup of Hot Apple Cider, and then a sad story for Hot Apple Cider with Cinnamon, when the opportunity was presented to submit something for Christmas with Hot Apple Cider, I was eager to participate.
I searched my memory banks for some special event connected with Christmas that might make for an interesting tale. One did come to mind immediately, and I wrote about that.
However, a question from the editor and a short time of reflection led me to realize that not one but three very important events in my life—both happy and sad—happened at Christmas time, and they were all part of a much bigger story. In the end, the larger story I wrote connecting them formed a framework covering a span of 50 years.
Writing a “true story” can be very difficult. In my case it required not just remembering, but re-living the kind of moments that wring raw emotion from the heart.
But my story is filled with joy, too.
And in the re-telling of it, I caught a glimpse of God smiling in the background as He wove together all the threads, dark and light, to form a new garment that I had neither asked for nor anticipated, but which fits perfectly.
I’ll never forget the process of writing “Three Christmases I Will Never Forget.” It forced me to re-visit difficult events that, seen now in their greater context, remind me of God’s loving hand at work in my life even when my mind was focused on coping with the “now.”
Bill Bonikowsky’s love for writing found expression when he served as editor of Youth for Christ’s Report to the People newsletter and as editor of the Alpha News for Alpha Ministries Canada. He was a contributing writer for the NIV Life Application Bible, and had stories published in A Second Cup of Hot Apple Cider and Hot Apple Cider with Cinnamon. Bill shared intimately on Facebook his experience of losing his wife of 45 years to cancer. Now re-married, Bill lives with his wife, Shirley, in Nanaimo, British Columbia.