{Five Minute Friday | Breathe}

It's Five Minute Friday. That means unplanned, unedited, straight-from-the-heart-to-the-paper writing. Yep, you just write whatever comes out based on a word you're given. If you have five minutes, you should give it a try!  Find out how here.

This week the prompt is {BREATHE}.

Ready? GO.

Just. Breathe.

It’s a signal to pause, to wait, to focus. It seems like there’s not a lot of space to breathe these days. Everywhere you turn, seems like people are reacting quickly, impulsively, irrationally. Perhaps it’s because fewer and fewer people have a built in pause button. Culture doesn’t glamorize thoughtfulness. Oh no. Culture says throw thoughtfulness and careful consideration out the window, feelings and emotions, those rule. We don’t value sound judgment. Instead, we base our ideas on things as flaky as the weather and as untrustworthy as the media. We don’t value absolute truth. Instead, we push relative truth, which is no kind of truth at all. We don’t value human life or human rights. Our fellow man, if he disagrees with us, makes an enemy of us. At least that’s what it looks like some days.

And the church? We need to take a collective time-out, a deep breath.  We need to be thoughtful. We need to respond to the goings-on around us rather than react from a place of fear, offense, frustration, or disgust. There's a difference, you know. Here’s the thing: The church keeps looking outside of herself for solutions rather than taking advantage of the opportunity to rise above the noise and move toward people and engage them with love and truth and hope. Always love and always truth. Not either/or, but both. And always grace.

Just. Breathe. Saturate your heart with God's love, truth, goodness, and grace. Then, go and do and be a representative of those things. We just have to. What’s happening is not ok.

Come on then, let’s do it together. Ready? 1 - 2 - 3 and BREATHE.

Now, what’s one thing you can do today to push back against all the chaos with love and truth? Do you have an idea? Well, then, do that.

STOP.

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{Five Minute Friday | Control}

It's Five Minute Friday. That means unplanned, unedited, straight-from-the-heart-to-the-paper writing. Yep, you just write whatever comes out based on a word you're given. If you have five minutes, you should give it a try!  Find out how here.

This week the prompt is {CONTROL}.

Ready? GO.

This word, control, could take me in several different directions. I've been sitting with this one since the prompt opened, just waiting. 

I've never been one who appreciates big surprises, good or bad (unless it's a puppy or a birthday party, ahem). Because of control. Or lack of control. Control is a fickle companion, giving the illusion of stability and predictability, and for some of us, those things equate to safety. When you remove the illusion of control, the deepest parts of me start to squirm. That's why I love my planners and notebooks and lists and schedules. When things are under control, there is order. Here's the thing: When I have a death grip on control, I may be restricting the work of the Holy Spirit in my life. And even more than that, I become a slave to what I can see and touch, leaving little room to exercise faith. That stings a little bit. Complete surrender to life in the Spirit is something the Lord and I have been working through in Scripture and prayer. Complete, as in whole, not partial. Total, as in entirety, in all areas. How often do we fail to be in control, as in self-control, when we are certainly meant to be? That's a fruit of the Spirit. And, how often do we get confused about where our responsibility ends, and God's work begins? That comes from life in the Spirit, allowing Him to guide us and order our steps. Paul said it best in Romans when he wrote, "...letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace." Yeah, that's what I want. 

Besides, my having control over a situation or circumstance doesn't guarantee stability or security. The hope that anchors my soul is found only in Christ. That kind of hope HOLDS. It cannot be shaken. 

Stop.

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{One Word 2017}

Confession: this isn’t what I planned to write about today. I didn’t even plan on having a word this year. We are already half-way through January after all. I'm feeling a little late to the party! But, I’ve learned when I can’t brush something aside, for one reason or other, the Lord is trying to get me to pay attention. That’s what happened here.

Have you ever existed in a space where the constant need to strive, or earn, or prove ruled? It’s a space that doesn’t allow for just being. It’s not life-giving and at the root is the need for acceptance or approval. It’s not always that you’re striving or trying to prove something to God, but to the people around you because everything they are doing or saying tells you that they don’t get you.

During the last year, we landed right in the middle of a situation like this. We moved to a new church to be part of the leadership team, and some things were happening that just plain knocked us off-center. We walked into a situation where proving yourself and your intentions before being fully in were just normal. At the very least, there was always a suspicion of motives and a pattern of assuming the worst of people right out of the gate. It was one of the hardest spots I’d ever been in, especially in the context of a church community. The desire to please people pulled me in one direction while the burden to speak truth into the situation weighed heavily on me. When we made the decision to walk away, we tried to leave well. Even then, people made assumptions and spoke poorly of us. I wrestled with the need to defend myself, explain myself, and set the record straight, but ultimately I realized that need was rooted in the same pattern of thinking I was trying to leave behind. I apparently didn't leave it completely behind. I carried the need to prove myself — my worth, my heart, my intentions — out of there with me. That’s what the enemy does. He attaches lies to these hard situations, we believe them, and it wreaks havoc in our minds.  It’s a hard pattern of thinking to break. The Lord started pressing on my heart - challenging me, stripping away this pattern of thinking, renewing my mind.

Here’s the thing: We don’t have anything to prove.

We’ve been asked to love God — heart, soul, mind, strength — and to love people.

We’ve been invited to follow Jesus, to live our lives connected to Him, allowing the Holy Spirit to work in us and refine us, ultimately making us more like Jesus.

We’ve been charged to know the Word and do what it says.

We’ve been urged to have faith.

These things, we do.

Then, there’s this:

We are loved.
We are forgiven.
We are chosen.
We are accepted.
We are valuable.
We are called.
We have purpose.
We are HIS.

These things, we are.

We are these things because He said so. This space is one where we can just be, nothing to earn, nothing to prove, no striving.  How do we do that?

We believe what He says and RECEIVE it. And, there it is. That’s my One Word for this year. {R E C E I V E}. Yep, I'm working on receiving what He's already promised. Fully. Completely. In every area of my life. That's what I want and what I need. And, that's what He wants for me.

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{Five Minute Friday | Refine}

It's Five Minute Friday. That means unplanned, unedited, straight-from-the-heart-to-the-paper writing. Yep, you just write whatever comes out based on a word you're given. If you have five minutes, you should give it a try!  Find out how here.

This week the prompt is {REFINE}.

Ready? GO.

I sat down more than once today to write this post. The words wouldn't come. But a song came. Sometimes songs do that for us, put words to the things we can't articulate, and we find it precisely embodies what we want to say. In this season, these words give voice to something that's stirring in the depths of my soul.  

My delight is in You, Lord. On Your Word, I set my heart. You are peace. You are calm for my restless soul. You light my way through the dark. I want to know You even more. Holiness is my desire. Purify, burn in me, come and make me clean. You refine me in Your fire.

Here I am, open arms. Draw me close to Your heart. You're my life. You're my refuge. My delight, Lord, my delight is in You.

Refiner's fire. My heart's one desire is to be holy, set apart for You, Lord.
I choose to be holy, set apart for You, my Master. Ready to do your will.

Here I am, open arms. Draw me close to Your heart. You're my life. You're my refuge. My delight, Lord, my delight is in You.

Yes. And amen.

STOP.

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*My Delight Is In You // © 2013 worshiptogether.com Songs Worship Together Music sixsteps Music Sixsteps Songs Sweater Weather Music A Thousand Generations Publishing (Admin EMI CMG). CCLI Song No. 6517953 . // Words and Music: Christy Nockels, Jessee Reeves, Chris Tomlin

{Five Minute Friday | Middle}

Well, hello there, friends. It's been a little while since I've written. That was by design - just taking a little rest. What better way to say hello after a break than with Five Minute Friday.

Five Minute Friday means unplanned, unedited, straight-from-the-heart-to-the-paper writing. Yep, you just write whatever comes out based on a word you're given. If you have five minutes, you should give it a try!  Find out how here.

The prompt is {MIDDLE}.

Ready? Go.

I'm not the kind of gal who wants to be somewhere in the middle. When I'm in, I'm all in. Otherwise, why bother? I suppose there are good things and not-so-good things about being an all-or-nothing kind of gal. Sometimes, it keeps me from starting. Sometimes, it means I have super-high (and super-unrealistic) expectations of myself. That's no fun, but hey, I'm working on it! It's just that I don't want to spend my days in a rut, you know, going through the motions in a kind of mindless, aimless way. That's kind of what it feels like in the middle to me. Do I begrudge the ordinary stuff? Absolutely not. Sometimes, the common, everyday tasks are where being all in matters most. Yeah, for sure. Here's the thing: Jesus gives meaning to whatever I'm doing. Scripture says to work with all our heart at whatever we find to do.  It says to do it as if you were doing it for Him. Whatever. We. Do. You know what that means? We don't have to compartmentalize our lives into "Jesus-stuff" and "everyday stuff." That changes things, doesn't it? That load of laundry? Do it for Him being thankful that you have running water, a washing machine, and clothes to wear. Gratitude and joy push you out of the middle into a place where you live intentionally and with purpose. In every moment. Yeah, what if we do that.

Stop.