Five Minute Friday - Lost

Writers invited – come one, come all, come free write with us. This is where a brave and beautiful bunch gather every week to find out what comes out when we all spend five minutes writing on the same topic and then sharing ‘em over here. How to Join: Want to know how Five Minute Friday got started and how to participate? All the details are here. Now, set your timer, clear your head, for five minutes of free writing without worrying about getting it right.

The rules are simple:
1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking. (On your own blog or in the comments here).
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.. - See more at: http://lisajobaker.com/2014/06/five-minute-friday-lost/?


So with that said are you read?  I know I am.  The word for today is Lost!


Go:

There are many lost thoughts I came up with this morning.  My mind was working overtime as this word played there.  I am a receiver of Amazing Grace because "I once was lost, but now I am found." Yet, even with that wonderful thought the one that ran rampant in my heart was the story of a little lost 2 year old girl...who was my daughter.  When Kat was two we went to Boaz, AL to the Vanity Fair outlet to get school clothes for Eric (12) and Jenifer (11).  I carefully put Kat in her little stroller so I could look and she would be contained.  Boy was I wrong.  The Vanity Fair outlet has many long aisles of jeans and other things.  Intent on my clothing mission and checking on my little one from time to time I did not realize that she had mastered the concept of undoing her restraints.  I checked on her......and the stroller was empty.  All that remained of my precious two year old was her doll.  In panic mode I went to the security office and told them my daughter was LOST!  The most dreaded words a mother could hear...much less say out loud.  I described her clothing and the outlet issued a code Adam and locked down.  No one came in and no one went out.  This outlet store is huge and there were many places a little lost child could have been....including dressing rooms.  The store employees all came together and walked through the store side by side.  I was right there with them...along with my 12 and 11 year olds and my mom.  My child was lost and I was heartsick.  Where could she be?  About halfway through the store a lady, who looked a lot like my mom, came up with Kat in her arms.  It appears that Kat had gotten out of her stroller, gotten in the rack of jeans, and walked to the other side of the store.  When she emerged she realized something was wrong, found the grandmother looking lady, told her she was lost, and asked her if she could help her find her granny.  It was about that time the Code Adam went out and the lady picked up my precious child and brought her towards the front of the store.  Lost is an ugly word when you are a mom.  Lost is an ugly word when you have not found Christ.  No matter how you look at it, Lost is a word that can strike terror in your heart.  Needless to say we did away with the stroller we had, and we left Vanity Fair that day and did not go back until I could see her above the racks.  I think I aged 40 years that day.  I aged another 40 years in 2009 when a Silver Alert was issued for my missing/lost parents, but that is a story for another day. 

Five Minute Friday: Nothing

This is the place where once a week we take the chance to just write, and not worry if it’s just right or not.  For five minutes flat.  Here’s how the game works: you simply stop, drop and write. Set your words free. Don’t edit them, don’t fret over them, don’t try to make them perfect. That’s how Five Minute Friday was born. Want to play? It’s fun. And it’s never too late to link up. Also? The awesome Karen whipped up a Facebook page where we can connect and talk all things writing beyond just Fridays! Click here to join us.  Then come take the Five Minute Friday challenge.
1. Write for only five minutes.
2. Link back to Lisa Jo's blog and invite others to play along.
3. Go high five the word artist who linked up before you with an awesome comment.
It’s liberating; give it a a try and see.  OK, are you ready? Give me your best five minutes for the prompt: 


Nothing


I have sat here staring at the computer screen and felt nothing coming.  I have not had a day like this in a long time.  Nothing fills my heart, my soul, my thoughts.  By definition the word nothing means the following:  

1. 1.

   not anything; no single thing.

   "I said nothing"

   synonyms:

   not a thing, not anything, nil, zero, naught/nought; More informalzilch, zip, nada, diddly-squat, squat "all my efforts add up to nothing"

   antonyms:

   something

   • something of no importance or concern.

     "“What are you laughing at?” “Oh, nothing, sir.”"

     synonyms:

     a trifling matter, a trifle; More neither here nor there; informalno big deal "forget it—it's nothing"

   • (in calculations) no amount; zero.

     synonyms:

     zero, naught/nought, 0; More love "the share value fell to nothing"

adjective

informal

adjective: nothing

1. 1.

   having no prospect of progress; of no value.

   "he had a series of nothing jobs"

So with the definition in mind I begin thinking back to times when nothing was part of my vocabulary.  I began at the time before Kat was born when I was married to her dad and thought about my feelings on the day of our wedding.  It was snowing lightly and I felt nothing but joy.  Nothing could defeat us.....or so I thought.  I realized early on that my opinions in the marriage counted for nothing.  Nothing I wanted mattered.  When Kat was young there was a feeling of nothingness that began to invade my heart.  I kept trying to overcome this darkness but in the end.....after an almost 25 year marriage.....it won.  There was nothing left.  I was empty.   I had nothing left to give.  So in 1998, after Kat graduated from high school, I walked out.  For many days I sat in the floor in my non-furnished apartment and let nothing overtake me.  I wanted him to realize he could not live without me....call me....come and get me.....but all I got was nothing.  One day I was invited to a bible study called Letting Go by Beth Moore.  Let go I did....all the nothing emptied from my heart and I began to be filled with God.  I opened my heart up to people, I searched my Bible for God's answers to the millions of questions I had.....and found peace, love, and fulfillment.  Gone were the nothing days.  That was the beginning of my growth from Bible Study to Pulpit.  It is amazing how God can take nothing....and make it into something beautiful....Me.  No longer am I nothing.  I am something.  I am a child of the King.  I am heir to the throne.  I am far from nothing.  Thank God!

Five Minute Friday - Crowd

 

Every Friday I look forward to this time.  Time to clear all the cobwebs out of my head.   What about you?  Got five minutes? Come and write with us; it’s the best kind of free therapy. 1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking 2. Link back to Lisa Jo's blog by clicking here and invite others to join in. Find out how over here. 3. And don’t forget to visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. OK, are you ready?
Give me your best five minutes on:

On CROWDs

GO:

I have 96 first cousins on both sides of my family.  Yes, you heard me correctly....96 of them.  My mom's family is a crowd all by itself.  When we get together there is no intimate little gathering....nope we have to rent halls for this.  Here we are the ones of us who could be there....together for my grandparents 50th birthday.  I was not married at that time and I added a spouse and three children myself.  My aunt had twelve children on her own.  They are all married and have a ton of kids too.  You are never alone in my family.  There is always a crowd around. 

Since we are talking about crowds let me tell you how much I hate them.  I am mildly (that is a lie I am terrified) claustrophic in crowds.  One Christmas when 30 of my family decided to go see Christmas at the Opryland Hotel I had a massive panic attack when I got separated from my family in the crowd.  A huge man in a cowboy had cut me off from the pack (yes, we run in packs)...my cousin Amanda saw the panic rising and got to me before I came unglued.  She looked Mr. Cowboy dead in the eyes and in her sweetest southern drawl said, "The word for today boys and girls is "claustrophobic.  Can you say "claustrophobic?  I knew you could."  Cowboy realized the problem and grabbed my hand and got me through the throng before I had a melt down.  Crowds and Karen....not good. 

I sing a song somewhere around Easter each year called Via Dolorosa by Sandi Patti.  The term Via Dolorosa translates as the way of grief or suffering.  I love the song.  I cry everytime I sing it.  The lyrics that rip me off the frame are these; " Down the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem that day, The soldiers tried to clear the narrow street.  But the crowd pressed in to see The Man condemned to die on Calvary."  Everytime I think of this throng of people who came to see my Lord and Savior die it just breaks my heart.  But then I remember that I am an Easter person and know that this was all part of God's plan so that I may have salvation...me and a crowd of other people, and it makes me smile.

Five Minute Friday - Choose

It is time again for Five Minute Friday.  I am needing this today because I am feeling empty.  So you ask yourself....what exactly is Five Minute Friday?  Well it is a time when we write for five minutes flat. All on the same prompt that Lisa Jo posts on her blog at 1 minute past midnight EST ever Friday. And then +we connect on Twitter with the hashtag #FMFParty (It stands for Five Minute Friday Party). No extreme editing; no worrying about perfect grammar, font, or punctuation. Unscripted. Unedited. Real. It started because she’d been thinking about writing and how often our perfectionism gets in the way of our words. And she figured, why not take 5 minutes and see what comes out: not a perfect post, not a profound post, just five minutes of focused writing. So now on Fridays a group of people who love to throw caution to the wind and just write without worrying if it’s just right gather to share what five minutes buys them. Just five minutes. Your words. This shared feast. It’s easy to join in, just: Check what the prompt is on Lisa's blog. Write a post in only five minutes on that topic on your blog. {And if you don’t have a blog, no worries! Just leave your writing as a comment on her post} Link over here and invite friends to join in.  Using the blue linky tool at the bottom of her Five Minute Friday post and enter your link. It will also walk you through selecting which photo you want to show up in the linky. Your post will show up in the Five Minute Friday linky. It is easy peasy.  Be sure and encourage the person who linked up before you! Our most important requirement for participation: There’s really only one absolute, no ifs, ands or buts about it Five Minute Friday rule: you must visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. Seriously. That is, like, the rule. And the fun. Ok, so let’s write for five minutes flat. All on the same word:

 CHOOSE
 

Go:   

To choose or not to choose that is my question.  I am sitting in an empty rclassroom filled with student's desk and trash scattered everywhere.  I could choose to clean it up, work on lessons for next week, read a book....but instead I choose to blog.  It is Friday and I am empty.  It is time to choose to open up my mind and let my fingers and thoughts go wild.  I have already got my sermon done for Sunday morning.  I decided earlier in the week and chose to get a handle on this so I could do taxes during the weekend.  This is something I chose to do.  My sermon is from Matthew 17:1-9 and it is about choices....When God is calling us we can choose to listen and obey, or choose to go the other way. I remember a story my dad once told about making choices.  It seems there was a little boy in the drug store with his mom and there was this glass jar with penny candy in it on the counter.  The little boy looked at the candy....and then at his mom....and then at the owner over and over again.  Finally the owner told him to choose a handful of the candy....but the little boy just kept standing there.  After a while the owner reached in took out a handful of candy and gave it to the little boy.  The mother was embarassed.  Why did you not choose your own candy and get it she asked?  The little boy said....I chose to let the owner get a handful for me.....because his hands were bigger than mine.  So....we have a choice in life....Do we choose God's plan for our lives....or do we choose our own plans?  If it comes down to me making that choice....I am picking God's plan...cause his hands and plans are bigger.   Choose wisely my friend.

Five Minute Friday - Garden

 

There are not enough words for me to tell Lisa Jo how much I love Five Minute Friday.  At a time when I felt as if my well was empty there she was.  So what exactly is it?  It is a time when we write for five minutes flat. All on the same prompt that Ishe posts here at 1 minute past midnight EST every Friday. And we connect on Twitter with the hashtag #FMFParty (It stands for Five Minute Friday Party). No extreme editing; no worrying about perfect grammar, font, or punctuation. Unscripted. Unedited. Real. It started because she’d been thinking about writing and how often our perfectionism gets in the way of our words. And she figured, why not take 5 minutes and see what comes out: not a perfect post, not a profound post, just five minutes of focused writing. So now on Fridays a group of people who love to throw caution to the wind and just write without worrying if it’s just right gather to share what five minutes buys them. Just five minutes. Your words. This shared feast. It’s easy to join in, just: Check what the prompt is on my blog. Write a post in only five minutes on that topic on your blog. {And if you don’t have a blog, no worries! Just leave your writing as a comment on her post} Link over to Lisa Jo's blog by clicking here and invite friends to join in.  Using the blue linky tool at the bottom of her Five Minute Friday post enter your link. It will also walk you through selecting which photo you want to show up in the linky. Your post will show up in our Five Minute Friday linky. Be sure and encourage the person who linked up before you! Our most important requirement for participation: There’s really only one absolute, no ifs, ands or buts about it Five Minute Friday rule: you must 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.

The word for today is:  

Garden

Go:

As I sit and look at this word I am quietly humming the tune to one of my favorite hymns, "In The Garden."  A friend once told me when her mother died that in order to deal with this significant loss she had to find a Happy Place.  I did not understand what she was talking about then....but when I lost both of my parents in an 18 month period I found myself searching for my own Happy Place and found it in the beauty and the peace of Mrs. Betty Jean's and Mrs. Shirley's flower gardens.  I have never felt so happy or at peace.  The smells of the flowers, the beauty of them, the vivid colors and the company of two very special ladies helped me get through a really rough patch in my life.  Both of these wonderful ladies opened up their gardens to me and let me heal.  It was there that I heard these words coming to me from Psalm 46:10.  He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” The key words for me....are the first ones....Be Still....and in the garden....that is what I am....still.  Bathing in the beauty and the fragrance of God's handiwork....and for a shining moment....I am at peace.

 

 

Five Minute Friday: Together

Somewhere out in blogdom there is a room full of women all sharing their hearts and their words with each other. Right now. Here. Together tonight. At the Allume Conference.
I am here with them too because this is a safe space...a happy place for me. This  is the Friday exhale of words without the editor’s voice. Without the voice that tells us we aren’t skinny enough, or talented enough, or have clean enough houses.  On Fridays we silence that voice and we just write without worrying if it’s just right or not.  Click here for the back story on how to join us for five minutes today on the word:

 TOGETHER

Go: 
Thanksgiving is looming just around the corner and sometime between now and then we will sing "We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing" in church. I know we are going to at Midway  because it is one of my favorite Thanksgiving hymns.  I love getting together as a fellowship of believers and singing, hearing God's word, and sharing prayers and praises.  When I miss attending...my life goes wonky.  I love get togethers with friends....planned or spontaneous.  Some of my most favorite ones are with the porch people in Rock Mills and with our church families at Rock Mills and Midway.  There is nothing like being together and fellowshipping.   it does not have to be a meal....it can be sitting in someone's garden, eating together after church on Sunday, playing Mexican train, having a lesson in crochet....however the time is spent the most important thing is that we are together.  My dad's family does not get together often.  We tend to only see each other now during weddings and funerals.  The elder generation is gone now but we manage to stay connected through facebook.  My mom's family is a horse of a different color.  WE LOVE to get together.  We will use any excuse as a reason to celebrate and be together.  We have mini reunions throughout the year, but Christmas and Thanksgiving are the biggies.  This year we are all going to get together at the beach.  This has become a tradition since the year of so many losses.  We all wanted a new tradition....and so the beach it was!   There will be somewhere between 30-35 of us in one house....together.  I cannot wait to get together with sister/cousin Amanda and having the opportunity to sing to our hearts content. 

Our family get togethers always involve music.  When I was a child growing up I thought everyone's did.  You can imagine my surprise when I realized that other families did not sing like we did.  Anyways, we are a close knit family....and have a large extension of us (friends and such).  When we gather together we always thank God for this time of closeness.  Changing the subject...you know there are a lot of together lyrics....Get Together(The Youngbloods), Together Again(Emmylou Harris), Come Together(The Beatles), Let's Stay Together(Pat Benatar)....yep...togetherness makes my world go round.  How about you?
STOP:

Five Minute Friday - Mercy

On Fridays a bunch of brave writers gather here to all spend 5 collective minutes writing on a single prompt. I love this brief five minutes to clear my head, get rid of the stress, and open my heart and just write.....
Here’s how it all got started, back story, details and all. The short version is:

1. Write for 5 minutes flat for pure unedited love of the written word. (On your blog or in the comments).
2. Link back here and invite others to join in {you can grab the button code in my blog footer}.
3. Go leave some comment props for the five minute artist who linked up before you.
It’s a great way to catch your breath at the end of a long week.
And this week, one of my hand’s down favorite writers who can make five minutes sing, you guys, SING, is guest posting for me. I’m thrilled to have Alia sharing five minutes today on something that is super close to both our hearts.
If you want to know what we’re talking about, you’ll need to read the amazing back story here about Mercy House Kenya.
‘Cause women can change the world right from the diaper aisle. –> click to tweet this one!

Mercy
 The Webster definition for the word mercy is this:  kind or forgiving treatment of someone who could be treated harshly  : kindness or help given to people who are in a very bad or desperate situation.  Oh yeah that is so me!....or at least the me I want to be.

 

Psalm 57:1 says:  "Have mercy on me, God; have mercy on me because I have taken refuge in you. I take refuge in the shadow of your wings until destruction passes by."  I cannot tell you how many times I have uttered these words.  When I as young I made several destructive decisions and ended up in situation where I needed mercy.  My Highway 22 prayers have been cries for mercy more than once.  I am one of the blessed ones...god has shown me mercy many times over.  The problem is....as much as I have received mercy....have I given it.  When things started going south with my ex-husband mercy was not something that came from my lips easily.  I was hurt and wanted to hurt back.  People I had loved, shared meals with, kept their children, etc....all of a sudden shunned me.   I received no mercy or compassion from them.  I was the enemy.  I was devastated.  I made a vow...to give as I got.  Wow....was I wrong....and ashamed of my vow when I finally realized....God gave me so much mercy....and I was giving nothing back in return.  I found myself forgiving them all in my heart.  Some actually became my friends again...others...oh well...thus is life.  I have learned to be more merciful with people through my life experiences.  I may not be the Mercy Queen....but I am striving to be.  When I utter the phrase..."Lord, have mercy on me!" I am dead serious.  I want to be treated kindly....and forgiven....when I should be treated terribly.  When we sing the hymn, "Surely goodness and mercy will follow me...."  I sing loud.  I want to be more Christlike....and practice mercy every day of my life.