Five Minute Friday: Mighty

We show up in all the ways: tired, joyful, troubled, satisfied, lonely, bubbling over, and all the ways you can think of.  But we show up, and we write for five minutes every Friday on a one word prompt.  It’s one of the best communities you’ll find online.  Want to join us?  Go here for all the details.  Now, let’s write.

I don’t feel it.  On this night when I have yet again dodged the blows and the sharp, pointed words aimed at my heart.  I feel anything but mighty.  I feel small and weary, that’s what I feel.  I feel wounded, left bleeding on the battlefield.  I want to get up and walk away but I can’t.

And yet.

Under the weariness and the tears and the desperate desire for answers, my heart still beats.

There is Something mighty at work in me.

It’s not of me, it’s in me.  And that’s what keeps me walking this path, one foot in front of the other.

On the days when I want to give up (and there are a lot of those), that Something (Someone) in me whispers of hope.

It’s not over yet.

There’s still hope, as long as my heart still beats.

 

 

Five Minute Friday: Joy

So I’m waaaay behind, but better late than never, right?

On Fridays, a whole band of brave word warriors write together for five minutes on a single one-word prompt given by our leader, Lisa-Jo Baker here.  It’s fun and freeing, and you should totally try it!  And now, my five minutes on Joy.

There’s this girl who lives in my house.  She’s beautiful and she’s sweet, and she looks nothing like me.  In fact, it’s kind of a family joke that I carried her in my body for nine months and she doesn’t resemble me in the least.  Her hair, eyes, build, coloring – it’s all inherited from some superhuman genes my husband carries around.

But something happens when she opens her mouth to sing.  That’s when I know she is mine.  We share a pure joy in the music that none of the rest of our family does.  There is a soul-deep rapture that occurs in both of us when we raise our voices in song.  I can see it on her face and it makes me wonder if people can see it on my own face.  I hope so, because that kind of joy only comes from the Father and it needs sharing. 

Aaaaand, time’s up.

So, it’s your turn.  What gives you joy?

Five Minute Friday: Crowd

It’s time to link up with one of the loveliest cheerleading squads on the web – the Five Minute Friday faithful!  Every Friday we write for five refreshing minutes on a one word prompt that we find here.  Come join us! 

There is simply too much to do.  Too.  Much.  Work, school, homework, laundry, making a halfhearted attempt to keep the house fit for human habitation.  Oh yeah, and preparing to move to another state.  Getting our house ready to sell.  Not to mention doing it all while my husband works in another state during the week. 

So I let myself think I don’t have time to read the Bible or pray anything more than breathless whispers as I fall asleep at night.  The Father Who deserves my very best ends up getting my leftovers, and I make excuses for it.

Life crowds in and it crowds out the things that make a difference between existing and really living.  My “to-do” list is greedy and noisy, and it wants all my time and attention.

It doesn’t have to be this way.  I can be honest enough to confess that there are times when I can choose, and I don’t always make the right choices.

And there won’t always be this many demands on my time. Even now things are evolving and I have a day off every week to give me time to get things done without having a nuclear meltdown.  Eventually we will be in our new home and the moving/selling part will be done. 

But there will always be things that grab my attention, that try to turn my eyes away from the One who deserves my devotion, and I have to learn how to keep my focus on the things that really matter.