Five Minute Friday- Roar

The warning flags fly straight out.
The sand pierces our skin with little stabs.
We close our eyes to squinty slits.
We lean hard and we press forward.
The wind roars.

The sea churns.
Waves white with foam roll on the shore and then back again.
The gulls barely move ahead.
The clouds drift in the distance.
And the wind roars.

The new year waits ready before us.
Dreams and hopes and expectations yet to be realized.
The hills seem tall and steep.
He is our strength and our song,
though surely the wind roars.








Five Minute Friday at The Gypsy Mama:
The first Friday of the new year.

Let’s do it. Let’s just write without worrying if it’s just right or not.

For only five short, bold, beautiful minutes. Let your mind and your words and your heart fly free; wild – no editing, no over thinking.

Won’t you join me?

1. Write for 5 minutes flat – don’t edit; don’t second-guess.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. Must: leave a comment for the person who linked up before you – encouraging them in their writing!

OK, are you ready? Give me your best five minutes on:

Roar…

Five Minute Friday- Beyond

I had to get a new driver's license today.
A new driver's license in a new state.
I showed all the documents- the social security card, and the birth certificate, and the passport, and the vehicle registration, and the proof of insurance, and the right form filled out.
And of course, I had to turn in my old license.
Officially now, I have exchanged my residency, from one state to another.

But I am looking beyond-
beyond today.
Beyond papers.
Beyond status.
Beyond rivers.
Beyond bridges.
Beyond borders.

I am looking to that time when we'll no longer be aliens and sojourners.
When the only requirement is "I believe."
When our citizenship is in heaven.
When "He'll make us beautiful and whole with the same powerful skill by which he is putting everything as it should be." (Philippians 3:21, The Message)
Beyond.

(photo: taken last weekend, headed east from South Padre Island, TX)


Five Minute Friday, hosted by The Gypsy Mama-

On Fridays around these parts we stop, drop, and write.

We write bold and beautiful and free. Unscripted and unedited. We just write without worrying if it’s just right or not.

Won’t you join us?

1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. Most importantly: leave a comment for the person who linked up before you – encouraging them in their writing!

OK, are you ready? Give me your best five minutes on:

Beyond…

on friends

We meet halfway, 25 minutes each, and when I arrive, she was talking on the phone, to friend we both love as a sister, far, far away. So we both got to say the "hello"s and "miss you"s and we smile because we know how dear that friendship is. And then we walk inside and take a table by the window and remember in person how very special it is to know, and be known, to love, and to be loved.

And then, later in the week, the phone rings at 6:36, and a familiar voice from far-away asks, "are you awake? I was thinking of you..." The next hour and 14 minutes launches me into the day ahead with cheer and gratitude.

My best friends make me laugh and don't laugh when I cry.  Mostly. :-)
When we are together, time ticks much too fast. I sit with two dear ladies in a living room and all of the sudden, it is 1 in the morning. We, who are supposed to keep curfew tabs on our teens, forget to check the clock ourselves.

Friends.

(photo- one of my all-time favorite "friend" photos, because we took it to send to another friend. In truth, "we" didn't take it at all- we asked a nice man, patiently waiting for his wife as she shopped, to take it- which just adds to how fun that memory is!)



I'm a few days late for 5 Minute Friday at The Gypsy Mama. But I think she would forgive...

We write because we want to, not because we have to. We write for fun, for joy, for discovery.

We just write without worrying if it’s just write or not.
Won’t you join us?


1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. Go a little overboard encouraging the writer who linked up before you.


OK, are you ready? Give me your best five minutes:
on friends...

Five Minute Friday- Rest

When peace seems so far away,
when sin and brokenness and conflict continue without ceasing.
When I stumble yet again,
and my best is not enough.
When disappointment and worry and angst fill the moments,
awake and asleep.
Where do I find rest?

He sent from on high,
He took me;
He drew me out of many waters…
He brought me forth also into a broad place;
He rescued me, because He delighted in me.
Psalm 18:16, 19

He delighted in me?
He delighted in me.
As I gaze long on my sleeping children,
as I marvel at the newborn grand who does nothing to merit favor except to be,
and simply delight,
He delighted in me.

And there, I breathe long,
and cry out,
and rest.

Five Minute Friday at The Gypsy Mama. Her instructions:
1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. Go a little overboard encouraging the writer who linked up before you.
OK, are you ready? Give me your best five minutes on:
Rest…

Five Minute Friday- Beauty

tan dunes rolling across the horizon.

tall wispy grass leaning in the wind.

white capped waves.

the ever constant repetition of the tide rolling in, sliding out.

sand that changes color in front of your eyes.

broken shells and wave tossed rocks glittering wet in the sun.

brightly colored umbrellas and towels lining the shore.

fluorescent toys lay in wait.

water that fades ever darker into the sea.

white and hazy wisps of clouds over head.

long-legged long-beaked birds running on the sand.

unexpected skydivers polka-dotting the sky.

sandcastles growing free form.

plunging under the wave and into the water.

drying under the hot sun.
no where else to be and all there for today.
a day at the beach.

 

Remember the rules for 5 Minute Friday:

Want to take five minutes with me and share what you found? Want to just write without worrying if it’s just right or not. Here’s how we do it:

1. Write for 5 minutes flat with no editing, tweaking or self critiquing.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in {you can grab the button code in my right side bar}
3. Go and tell the person who linked up before you what their words meant to you. Every writer longs to feel heard.

Five Minute Friday- loss

This week I heard two stories of babies dying, and I grieve.

I don't understand, but I trust the Creator who has a purpose and a plan.

And yet, I don't understand.

This week I am in the desert, and I look at the unforgiving terrain and think about those who have trekked across, those who tried but didn't make it.

I wonder.

And I don't understand.

How do we rightly mourn with those who are mourning?

How do we grieve that which is not ours?

These are the times when I long for eternity, to reach the not-yet from the here-now.

These are the times when I long for the forevermore in the Thy will be done.

Without suffering,

without pain,

without loss.

(art credit: Her Hardest Hue to Hold by graysparrow at Etsy)

Just five minutes...

Five Minute Friday- Grateful

grateful.
deeply thankful.
not understanding that idea for so long, until coming, perhaps, to see the end of me,
and knowing that all is grace.

for provision, for call, for place.
for prayer and quiet and stillness.
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

for community, for unexpected calls,
for time together, for sharing heart desires,
for little girls that still climb on laps.

for a future and a hope.
for the smallest things and the most grand majesty of all.
grateful.
(art credit: Grateful by NejellaPhotoArt on Etsy)


And grateful to The Gypsy Mama for 5 Minute Friday-

1. Write for 5 minutes flat with no editing, tweaking or self critiquing.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in {you can grab the button code in my right side bar}
3. Go and tell the person who linked up before you what their words meant to you. Every writer longs to feel heard.

five minute friday- wonder

Wonder…

Of being in awe.
A sunset painted in pastels across the sky, blue and purple and pink and orange, wispy clouds all that remain after the storms of the day.
The sparse beauty of the desert, the sage and mesquite and craggy brush, green across the canvas of brown.

Of thinking curiously.
What does tomorrow hold and how will He use me?
How does that work?

Of doubt.
To believe beyond what is logical and reasonable.

Wonderful are your works, my soul knows it very well. Psalm 139:14.

(art credit: I wonder postcard by ChildlikeWisdom on Etsy)




As The Gypsy Mama encourages each Friday:

Let’s just write and not worry if it’s just right or not. Here’s how we do it:

1. Write for 5 minutes flat with no editing or tweaking.

2. Link back here and invite others to join in {you can grab the button code in my right side bar}

3. Go and tell the person who linked up before you what their words meant to you. Every writer longs to feel heard. {And if you love us, consider turning off word verification for the day to make it easier for folks to leave you some encouragement}

Home...

This week's Five Minute Friday at Gypsy Mama-
Home...

Home is comfort, and comfortable.
It is that place where you know, and you are known.
Home is where it is easy, even when it is hard.
Home is acceptance, where you are embraced just because you are.

Home is a little bit messy, not in perfect order, but never chaos.
It is good food and long talks and the place where it is ok to be quiet.
Home is shoes off, and rumpled beds, and books in stacks.
Home is familiar, and home is family.

Home is where I long to be, the place I set my eyes toward.
No more pain, no more sin.
Eternity in glory, without goodbyes.

(art credit: Surely Goodness and Love Will by artbyerinleigh at etsy.com)



To paint a verbal picture. To just write and not worry if it’s just write or not.
1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.

2. Link back here and invite others to join in.

3. Get a little crazy with encouragement for the five minuter who linked up before you.

5 minute Friday- backwards

Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that]for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:12-14

Some days, when I least expect or anticipate it, time seems to move backwards, and suddenly I am in a place from before, forgetting the steps forward. It takes just a word or a look or even a tone, and I forget progress made and stumble back into the pit that seemed to be left long behind.

I doubt; I question; I accuse; I want to withdrawal and surrender to disbelief.

I hate those days.

It is a constant challenge to forget what lies behind and reach forward to what lies ahead.
But oh, the promises along that road for the prize…

(art credit: Looking Forward by Shirae on Etsy)
(isn't funny how backward and forward are just a turn of perspective? because it sort of seems that girl is looking backwards, but the title of the work is Looking Forward...)

Thanks to The Gypsy Mama for the encouragement to write.
The instructions, straight from The Gypsy Mama...

Got five minutes? Let’s write. Let’s write in shades of real and brave and unscripted.

Let’s just write and not worry if it’s just right or not.
1. Write for 5 minutes flat for pure unedited love of the written word.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. Get a little crazy with encouragement for the five minuter who linked up before you.

5 minute friday- Forgetting (not)

Breaking a bloggy fast this morning, easing in gently with a prompt from The Gypsy Mama for 5 minute Friday...

Forgetting.
Or perhaps, forgetting not.

I never want to forget how sweet it is to stand in worship and know the songs so well I can sing them with my eyes closed and hear individual voices all around me, the mingling with the melody of the keys.

Or how it is to look across the room at a friend and be known, without saying a word, but with the history of all those words spoken through the many years before.

I never want to forget how it is to be the stranger, and not understand and not know a thing, to be the helpless one.

Or how it is to walk into the room and not know a soul, and hardly the language, and yet remember that a kind smile speaks volumes.

… keep your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your sons and your grandsons. (Deuteronomy 4:9)

Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and forget none of His benefits. (Psalm 103:2)

(art credit: Forget me Not by ZENdaisies at Etsy.com)



Don't forget to check out other 5 minute friday contributions at The Gypsy Mama.

on distance

how far,
from high desert of the Southwest to the ocean coasts of the continent to the plains of the Heartland to the tropics of Central America;
from no worship to traditional pews and stained glass windows to mismatched chairs on a cement floor and a rooster crowing out back;
from lazy to busy to tranquilo.

how far,
to that place we have yet to arrive;
to goodbyes and hellos;
to the mix of language and culture and tradition;
to learning yet again.

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:38-39

But as for me, the nearness of God is my good;
I have made the Lord GOD my refuge,
That I may tell of all Your works.
Psalm 73:28



I just discovered Five Minute Friday, a challenge issued by The Gypsy Mama to write for 5 minutes, just to write whatever comes to mind, "to fingerpaint with words."  (isn't that a GREAT image?) 

Five minutes pass in a flash!

I think I'll be back...