Your Life in Six Words

When I am driving, I often listen to audio books or podcasts. A few days ago I was listening to a "throw back" NPR podcast entitled "Can You Tell Your Life Story In Exactly Six Words?" It featured a segment that NPR created after airing a phenomenon created by Smith magazine.

Smith magazine had invited writers "famous and obscure" to distill their own life stories into exactly six words. The invitation was in the same spirit of how Ernest Hemingway when once asked to write a full story in six words, the novelist responded in this way: "For Sale: baby shoes, never worn." The response was so overwhelming that the magazine not only compiled the phrases, but they also started a website that continues today.

Then NPR, in collaboration with Smith magazine, created a whole segment they called, "Can You Tell Your Life Story in Exactly Six Words?" People were invited to call into their local NPR shows or to stop by story booths that were set up in cities throughout the United States in order to share their six word memoirs.

Here a few NPR's 'Can You Tell Your Life Story in Exactly Six Words?" stories that I found particular compelling:

Painful nerd kid, happy nerd adult.
I picked passion, now I'm poor.
Alzheimer's: meeting new people every day.
Met wife at her bachelorette party.

The idea of the six words is to think clearly and succinctly how you might write about your life's story. As I considered this creative writing prompt, I thought about how interesting it would be to apply it to a local church. What six words we would use to tell our local church's story could be very revealing. What might these six words reveal about our mission? Our beliefs? Our commitments? Our joys? Our struggles? Our victories? Most importantly, what might those words reveal about our faith?

Consider using it as a challenge in your church. Can You Tell Your Church's Story in Exactly Six Words? What would they be?

Blessings, Shana