TRY- Five Minute Friday

If you haven't read any of my posts before, I hope you have found your way here to "TRY" something new and found it worth the trip. May you be encouraged. Blessings and peace to everyone!  Here are my thoughts for this week's prompt.

Take the plunge

Relish every minute

You never know how things will turn out until you TRY

I recently saw a posting on FB that read, "If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine, it's lethal". Routine is safe and comfortable. One knows what to expect, but if we never try anything new, we'll never grow. Recently I took my first trail horseback riding through the woods. I was nervous. We were outside the arena. Amber, the fifteen hundred pound draft horse I ride, is a lot of horse! She moved faster than I ever thought. Cool breezes blowing, leaves rustling, an open hillside, and she was excited. I was nervous, but went, rode and lived to tell about it. I'm looking forward to the next one.

STOP

To see what others are saying, TRY Kate's web site where FMF began. www.katemotaung.com

Ten a Five Minute Friday on Friday!

This week's prompt was another surprise, but a fun one.  Here are some of my thoughts on it.

Ten

Ten minute whenever you call for Chinese food

Size ten jeans fit good on me

Ten, a milestone for many, or perfect score

A decade worth of time

I lived one place for over ten years

I've been with the same job for more than it

Friendships over twenty

My, how life can change and stay the same

all in that time

Time evolving and stopping for no one

STOP

To see what others are cooking up in five minutes for this week's prompt check out www.katemotaung.com

Free-Five Minute Friday

The prompt surprised me this week especially in regards to where I am in my life now. I find myself not willing to settle for less than best. As I become more cognizant of how short life is and how quickly it flies by, I find that I need to decide what is most important. How is my time best spent and with whom?

 Steve Jobs asked himself almost daily, "If this was the last day of my life, is this where I want to be and what I want to be doing?" 

Ironic that he passed away at such a young age, but he truly lived life to the fullest. When we come to that point, recognizing our own limitations and acknowledge the inevitable boundary of our own mortality, I think it can be very freeing. So that is the background behind the poem I composed in five minutes. May it bless and challenge you to want to live more freely in your own lives.

Free

Free to say yes or no

Free to stay or go

Free to make decisions 

Decisions I can live with

No longer controlled by pleasing others

Now living with a higher standard

Not spending time in a place of unsurety

Knowing where the lines are frees me

I can stand tall knowing I am free

Free to choose and be me

Security in knowing a strong rock beneath my feet

I know what works and doesn't now

There are no strings manipulating me

To see what others are thinking check out Kate's blog where our writing comes together each week at www.katemotaung.com

Hope- Five Minute Friday

Ok, I need to preface this by saying it took me a little longer than five minutes to write out what came to mind for "hope", this week's prompt, but I know it is a testimony of God's grace and faithfulness worth sharing. Although this is a personal experience from almost ten years ago, I often reflect upon it to remind myself how blessed I have been.

HOPE

          He couldn't guarantee me anything. All I knew is he was an excellent surgeon and highly recommended by my friend, but I still thought of backing out. For months I had tried diet changes, acupuncture, and anything else homeopathic to shrink the fibroid that was the size of a six month pregnancy. Nothing worked. So I agreed to have a myomectomy. I would wait until summer vacation, but I would do it. Until the "what if's" began to whisper louder and louder. I began to make a plan to call the doctor and tell him, "No, I just can't do it.", but then as I finished brushing my teeth I heard another saying, "We are not of those who shrink back." No time to look up the verse in Hebrews, so I grabbed my coat and bag and headed off to work.

        The next morning I picked up "Grace for the Moment," by Max Lucado to read the devotion for the day. It was the same exact verse from the morning before.

Hebrews 10:39-11:1 "But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."

          I hoped for a successful surgery that removed only my fibroid and a great recovery. God had promised what I hoped for would be and He delivered. Even my surgeon was taken aback at how well all went.

STOP

To see what others are thinking, check out www.katemotaung.com

Favorite-Last week's Five Minute Friday

Favorite. Here are a few of my favorite things.

Chickadees calling

Red cardinals darting

Nuthatches laughing

while children are marveling

Friendship and family

rejoicing together

Warm summer breezes

carrying fragrance from flowers

Riding on Amber when

she trots so smoothly

Sunrises at the ocean

Sunsets over mountains

Seeing God's hand move

bringing about changes

STOP

To see what others have been thinking check out www.katemotaung.com