Tag Archives: 5-minute Friday

Five Minute Friday: Quiet

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Just saying the word quiet feels like exhaling to me.
My world has been rather noisy as I am pulled in a million different directions. Just typing it out here causes that feeling of angst to return. It is self-inflicted noise.

I am a lover of change. I enjoy juggling many different projects at once. Problem is, I have never been a friend to balance. I will take on more and more until I’m completely drained. It usually takes my man of more than a decade to reel me back in.

And when he does I realize just how much I love the quiet. I get up long before the sun, not to work on the next project, but to sit in front of the fire and listen to the sounds of early morning. Every now and then I will hear something that I think are not so little feet hitting the carpeted floor in the boy’s room and I think, “Please God, just give me 5 more minutes of…this.”

Just a few more moments of unobtrusive meditation and inward worship. The kind where I close my eyes and focus solely on the living breath in and the healing breath out. The quiet before the chaos of everyday life ensues. Just a few more minutes…with you…uninterrupted.

That is my wish for you today, everyday, that you will have a quiet place to retreat when the world around you is too loud. A place to close your eyes and focus on the breath filling and emptying your lungs. A place where being quiet speaks volumes.

What does quiet mean to you? Wanna tell the world in 5 minutes or less? Here’s how to play…
1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. Seriously.

 

Five Minute Friday: Voice

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Listen closely
Do you hear that?
It’s the whisper of self
The voice inside you
Inside us all
Motivating your choices
Steering your future
Speaking up whenever there is a decision to be made
What is it saying?
Is it the voice of truth
Telling you to step outside your comfort zone
Telling you to walk by faith if you want to inherit eternal blessings
Nudging you to look up and around at all the beauty and life
Speaking the words of your Creator into your soul
Do you hear it?
What’s it saying?
This may be the most important voice you listen to
Why?
Because it’s your choice
Yours alone
No one can choose for you
Today
In this moment
I will choose
I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth

Do you want to write with abandon? Come join us for #FMF by clicking here.

 

Five Minute Friday: Race

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The texts started lighting up my phone around 9:30p.m. They continued throughout the night and early morning. By mid-morning Wednesday, I knew I needed to go. I would get in my car and race to the hospital just inside the city line of the town I grew up in.

It was Tuesday when my sister almost died. And though some would say, “But she didn’t die.” The fact that we were hours from losing her is surreal.

I am having quite the time processing every thing from the last few days. I go between anger, sadness, gratefulness, hope and so many other emotions. Truth is, she is in a race. Against time…against disease…against unrealistic expectations… A race that she runs accompanied by those who love her the most. It will be a lifelong event. Life as she knows it must change or an early death is imminent.

We are all running a race. Some days are better than others. If you are in the midst of a time that is more difficult than serene, I am praying Psalm 34 for you;
“God’s angel sets up a circle
of protection around us while we pray.
Open your mouth and taste, open your eyes and see—
how good God is.
Blessed are you who run to him.”

What / Who are you running to?

Now, set your timer, clear your head, for five minutes to just write without worrying if it’s just right 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. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. Seriously. That is, like, the rule. And the fun. And the heart of this community..

Five Minute Friday: Grasp

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When seeing the prompt from Lisa-Jo’s Five Minute Friday post, these verses from Ephesians 3 are the first thing that came to mind. Please know that when it comes to memorizing scripture, or anything for that matter, I am just about the worst there is. I have been praying this for my children and Chris as well as close friends for more than a year and there are times when I still have to look it up to get the exact wording right.

I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

I love these verses. The main word in the midst of the rest is grasp.

What better way to attempt describing the word and it’s meaning than with the beach? You have the water…as far as the eye can see. The sand…too many grains to count. The sky…bigger than life.

So when I tell my boys, “Look left and look right…look up and out as far as your eyes can see. Do you see an end?” They respond quickly with their answer, “No.” I take the opportunity to explain God’s love in the best and most simple way I can, “Right. It’s like the love of the Father for each of us. Never-ending.”

When I realize the validity of this illustration, it is too much, even for me to grasp and I stand, drenched in the grace that is now my reality because of it.

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Five Minute Friday: Change

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GO

© Joy Cannis and Even A Girl Like Me, 2012

“When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change; at such a moment, there is no point in pretending that nothing has happened or in saying that we are not yet ready. The challenge will not wait. Life does not look back. A week is more than enough time for us to decide whether or not to accept our destiny.” ~Paulo Coelho

The topic for this week’s FMF post could not be more timely. Selfishly I like to think that God put it on Lisa-Jo‘s heart just for me.

I am experiencing change all around me. It’s not all bad, but unsettling nonetheless. The quote at the top of the page came from attempts to calm my nerves through hours of reading what different authors say about change. It sums it up well for me right now.

Change is a funny thing, it brings to the surface two very strong, competing emotions, fear and excitement.

Fear of the unknown.
Excitement for what the future holds.

For me, today, in this moment,
Change = Adventure.
I’ll keep you posted.

“All that you touch
You Change.
All that you Change
Changes you.
The only lasting truth
is Change.
God
is Change.”
~Octavia E. Butler

STOP

Wanna participate or just read more takes on the word change? Click here

 

 

Five Minute Friday: Stretch

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It’s #FiveMinuteFriday!
Where a beautiful crowd spends five minutes all writing on the same topic and then sharing ‘em over here. 

Are you ready?

GO

© Joy Cannis and Even A Girl Like Me, 2012

When reading this week’s prompt, I immediately thought of a set of pictures I had taken recently. This one of licorice is at the top of my current favorites. In fact, it’s my screen saver.

It acts as a reminder that being “stretched” doesn’t have to be stressful or negative. It can be quite beautiful, appearing as bright colors and meaning different things to those affected by my disposition.

I have prayed that God would shape me into what He created me to be so that I would not miss a single blessing or opportunity relating to my overall purpose in His plan.

He is showing me more and more how to stretch myself in a good way, revealing His handiwork in my current circumstances. Proving that, though there was a time when stretching myself would have been represented by black licorice, today, it is beautiful, vivid and intertwined with His grace.

STOP    

Wanna play? Here’s how:
1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments.

 

Five Minute Friday: Connect

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Around here we write for 5 minutes on Friday. I love today’s topic as I have been learning how important it is to “connect.”
GO

© Joy Cannis and Even A Girl Like Me, 2012

I tend to forget how important connecting is until I am in desperate need of it. I go about my day feeling ostracized (usually by my own doing.) At times it takes a close friend with genuine concern, inquiring about my feelings to snap me out of it and make the needed connection.

As a woman especially, I have a heightened sense of urgency to be and stay connected to other women who are a source of encouragement and beauty in my life. Those whom I can share openly and honestly with and they will point me back to God’s grace.

I watch my children play and interact with each other and others. They have no problem connecting when they need to. And it can be as simple as, “Hey, wanna race to the deep end?” that re-establishes the community that they share.

For us it may be asking a co-worker, “Wanna grab lunch?” It doesn’t always have to be a deep, emotional conversation/connection. The important thing, for me anyway, is remembering that we were created with a need to connect.

Whether it be with my husband, children, friends, or co-workers I use this word as if referring to a life source, because it is.

Who will you connect with today?

STOP

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