Five Minute Friday - On Monday

Every Friday hundreds of bloggers write for five minutes without over-analyzing or over-editing.  It's a chance to write what is on our hearts and not worry so much about how we write.  Lisa Jo Baker provides a prompt.  One word.  And we all give our thoughts.  I love Five Minute Friday.  I can spend hours reading other people's blogs and being astounded at the beautiful way they weave words together.  And, because the biggest rule is that you must read and comment on the blog before yours, I get the blessing of people reading my words and encouraging me.  This Friday, life got just a little too busy.  And Saturday.  And Sunday. Now it's Monday.  While I may be the last to post a link and no one may read and comment on my blog - I refuse to miss Five Minute Friday.  I crave the freedom and community it affords me.  So I will write.

Five Minute Friday - Prompt - Release

Oh, how beautiful this word sounds to me.  

Release my burdens.  
Let go.  
Unclench my fists.  
Relax my muscles. 
Breathe.  

The thought makes me feel lighter.  More joyful.  

But hands that have been clenched for too long release so slowly.  The joints and muscles have grown so stiff.  So used to clinging on to what lies inside.  And there is great fear in what might fall should they open.  

There are really only two choices though. Keep clenching and clinging and thus choke out joy and hope.  Or, release those things we can't really hold anyway and thus allow for joy and hope to rest gently on our outstretched hands.      

Five Minute Friday - Messenger

Messenger. 

One who brings a message. 

Messages can be life altering. They can bring hope and joy or devastation and sadness. Messages can be small and simple.  They can bring a smile to a face or tears to eyes.  Last night, as I read a message from a friend, I was reminded of how powerfully good human beings can be to each other.  In this instance, people came together and decided to be messengers. Spreading the message that one of their own needed help.  They spread it loud and clear. Their message was heard and received and in just over 48 hours the need of their friend was met in abundance.  It made me think that we all are really messengers.  And we choose to either bring more joy or more sadness.  More smiles or more anger.  The world would be changed if we all chose to share good messages.  If we made it our goal, our job, to inform the world that there is hope, there is a God who loves us, there is beauty, and there is good.  

Remember and Trust

Remember and Trust. 

These are not the words I was seeking.  They were not the words I was praying for.  I wanted something more like – BAM!  Done! 

But my heart and my head clearly heard the other.  I was crying out to God.  God fix this – now.  Be You – show me You.  Do huge miracles so my eyes can see you and my heart can feel you.  Now.”  My greatest desire was a touch from Him.  To experience His in a way that was tangible and real.  So I begged.

He answered.  Remember.  Remember that I have answered your prayers in the past.  (Like, yesterday.)  Remember the times when you brought before me requests that were impossible in your own strength, and I made them happen.  Remember all the times I have gone before you and cleared a path, where before it was entirely impassable.   Remember all the prayers that felt unanswered until you saw I had a different plan, a plan that turned out to be in your best interest.    

   

Oh, yeah.  There are those answered prayers.  There are the answered prayers that stack up as tall as a mountain.  There are the ones I thought were so crazy I shouldn’t even think them. There are the ones so small in the grand scheme of things that it seemed to even ask.  There are big ones and small ones, huge ones and tiny ones.  But they are all a testimony His faithfulness.  

Gently, He touched my heart again.  Now, trust.  Trust that I know what I am doing.  Trust that I will answer, in the right way, at the right time.  Trust that my way is best.  Trust that I am enough.  Trust that I am with you and I will stay with you.  “Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever.” Psalm 125:1 (NIV -1984)

Yes, trust.  That is what my heart needs.  Trust brings me peace.  Trust lets me give it all back to God.  I still have to do my part, but He will take care of the rest.  Trust lets me hope.  So, I will trust out of obedience.  I will trust because He has proven Himself over, and over, and over again.  I will trust, and He will provide.

Five Minute Friday - Hands

     Their hands lay gently on top of each other.  Beauty and grace, hard work and time, etched on each.  It's a picture of their hands but it reveals so much more.  It reveals not only how close they are, but of how alike they are.  They are mother and daughter but also friends.  Both have nurtured, both have provided, both have been the caretaker.  Both have listened, both have comforted, both have soothed.  Each has held the other's hand in joy and sorrow, celebration and grief.  Each has held the other's hand to support, to guide, to hold the other up.  Each has given all of their heart and all of their strength to the other.  Mother gave the daughter life.  The daughter held her mother's hand in death.  And now the joy and comfort come in knowing, someday, they will be together again and this time there will be no death, no tears, no pain. Only joy.

Who you are in enough.

     Who you are is enough.  In fact, who you are is good.  No, really.  Are you perfect?  No.  Are there things you need to work on, to get make better? Yes.  But who you are, right now, in this minute is enough.  I get that this sounds like a cheesy speech, designed to make you pat yourself on the back and feel all warm and gooey inside.  It’s not.  It’s a reality check.  We spend years of our lives, and billions of dollars trying to make ourselves ‘better’.  Based on my experience, and that of those I know, most of us are really trying to make ourselves someone else.  We are so uncomfortable with who we are that we use all our energy, and emotion, and time, trying to re-create ourselves.  Folks, we need to stop. 

     As the preacher said Sunday, “we need to remember who and whose we are.”    We were created by God.  And God is good.  What He creates is good.  "God saw all that He had made, and it was very good." Genesis 1:31 - (NIV)  And yes, this verse is after He made human beings.  Yes, we have sinned.  Yes, we need a Savior to set us right with God again.  "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and all are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ." Romans 3:23 - 24 (NIV)  But God didn’t mess up.  He didn’t make a mistake when He made us.  Sometimes, we feel like He did.  Sometimes, we can’t understand why we have personality characteristics that we consider flaws.  But God formed us - and He always has a reason.  Maybe we ought to start spending more time and energy accepting who we are and using our strengths instead focusing on, what we consider to be, our weaknesses.  Maybe we ought to spend some time resting in the truth that God made just how He wanted us.  Maybe, even, we should celebrate that God did good!  

Five Minute Friday - Nothing

     Nothing.  Absolutely nothing is worth the energy and effort and emotion that worrying requires.  Nothing.  Nothing in the history of the world has ever been positively changed by worrying.  Nothing.  Ever.  Thinking through things logically, yes.  That has changed minds, held tongues, and given rise to some of the most beautiful stories, poetry and art ever created.  But worry, no.  Worry is thinking about things we either can't or won't change.  Worry is obsessing over what might happen.  Worry is brooding.  Worry doesn't involve action, or faith, or hope.  Worry creates sadness and hopelessness.  Worry causes our blood pressure to rise and our muscles to tense.  Nothing good comes from worry.  Now if I can only remember the truth of that when I start thinking of all the things I think are worth worrying about.

Close - Five Minute Friday

Close requires risk.  It means you are putting your heart out there to trust and care for another person.  It means that someone else now has the power to wound you.  But it also means that you allow someone else to encourage you, build you up, and enrich you.

Close requires work.  It means you spend time being physically close to someone.  It means you spend time talking to someone.  It means you forgive when you are hurt.  And it means asking for forgiveness when you are the one who has done the hurting.

Close requires giving and receiving.  It means that you give of your time, your energy, and your heart.  It means putting someone else's needs and wants above your own.  But you must also receive these same gifts. You have to allow others to give to you.  Which often means being humbled.

Close is a blessing.  Close is friendship and love.  Close is necessary.  God didn't design us to do this alone. He designed us to experience closeness with Himself and with others.  Spend some time today being close. Close to Him and close to those you love.