Dennis Sparks/Contributor

I found myself thinking about the power of story telling as I listened to Mitch Albom speak last month at the Washtenaw Economic Club. Albom’s talk featured stories about his relationships with New Jersey Rabbi Albert Lewis and Detroit Pastor Henry Covington, relationships that are the subject of Albom’s new book, Have A Little Faith.

The two men Albom profiles in Have A Little Faith provide significantly different life stories and entry points into Albom’s life. At age 82, Rabbi Albert Lewis, a respected but somewhat distant religious figure in Albom’s early years in New Jersey, asked Albom to deliver his eulogy. Through his own reporting, Albom met Henry Covington, whose life of addiction and crime eventually led him to minister to some of Detroit’s most desperately down and out residents. Despite their differences in backgrounds and faith, Lewis and Covington taught Albom meaningful and abiding life lessons.

Mitch Albom is a masterful storyteller, both in print and in person. But we don’t have to possess Albom’s reportorial skills to benefit from the countless stories that can be found in our families, our work settings and neighborhoods, and our religious and social groups. Children also have important stories to tell, as do individuals in the final weeks and months of their lives. Invite storytelling

Fortunately for those of us who value storytelling, human beings seem to be hard wired to both tell stories and to be captivated by them. We use stories to understand our past, to make sense of the present, and to anticipate or even create the future. Our stories convey our history, explain our values, and can touch listeners’ hearts in special ways.

All that’s required for us to profit from these stories is to do what Mitch Albom does so well: slow down so that we can listen carefully, invite story telling, and open ourselves to the wisdom the stories provide. And when we give others the gift of our attention and respect we provide opportunities for them to discover through their stories new perspectives on the meaning in their own lives.

“What the whole thing is about—it’s not the answer, it’s the search,” Mitch Albom said at the conclusion of his Washtenaw Economic Club talk.

A cliché perhaps, but when we acquire life lessons first hand from the stories of people who are close to us, the lessons are never clichés. All that’s required is that we offer the gift of our attention and listen with an open mind and heart.

Dennis Sparks’ “Things Observed” photos and essays encourage readers to slow down to deepen their appreciation of aspects of daily life that may sometimes elude awareness and to see familiar things in fresh ways. You can contact him at dennis.sparks@comcast.net.