A Date with my Creator

Prompt: Date

High clouds drift across deep blue sky

Stretching the sky

A bit more

As if to catch the last of sun’s warmth

Before winter clouds

Close it up

For hibernation.

Only a short moment

Fleeting

But it seems

That time stops.

They are so high

Up in that blue calm

That they must be

Beyond the reach

Of time.

And my soul responds

With a pause

For a moment

Undisturbed

By the flurry around me.

Soak it in

This moment

This weighty calm

And enjoy.

Be.

I am continuing on with my Write 31 Days theme of "31 Days to Slowing Down and Living More Simply" with reflections based on my reading of Emily P. Freeman's book Simply Tuesday and the prompts given at the FMFW page. My "Five Minute Free Write" portion will be enclosed with // and any extra thoughts will follow.

For more '31 Days' Posts click here or on the tab at the top of the page.

The Beauty of "Only"

Prompt: Only

// I tend to strain against my limitations, viewing them as a negative force in my life. I wish I could operate well on less sleep, run faster, multitask better, and learn language more quickly. I wish I didn’t need alone time to recharge and that I could handle ambient noise well and still think clearly about what I’m doing. 

The idea of “only” usually makes me stressed. Only 6 hours until I’m supposed to get up, only half an hour to make dinner, only 15 minutes until we need to leave. “Only” seems to indicate “not enough.”

But my limitations are actually a gift, if I will receive them as such, and “only” can be a profoundly beautiful word. God is mindful that I am only made of dust and He has compassion on me. He knows my weak frame and has made His power manifest in my weakness.

In fact, he left nothing up to me in terms of making myself worthy of His love and salvation – He has saved me by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. 

I can sleep knowing that He never does, I can accept my weakness knowing His strength is available for me, and I can bring Him my weariness and burdens and receive in exchange His light and easy burdens. I can receive my “only” as a gift and stop trying to be God by controlling everything and being everything. I am only me, and that is okay. //

I am continuing on with my Write 31 Days theme of "31 Days to Slowing Down and Living More Simply" with reflections based on my reading of Emily P. Freeman's book Simply Tuesday and the prompts given at the FMFW page. My "Five Minute Free Write" portion will be enclosed with // and any extra thoughts will follow.

For more '31 Days' Posts click here or on the tab at the top of the page.

A Little Bouquet, A Costly Gift

Prompt: Bouquet 

// A bouquet of flowers is always nice, but it had a special significance when my husband brought one to me after we had been married for a short time. It is so hard for him to spend money on something that lasts such a short time, especially when you can buy a nice plant for the same price, or cheaper, and have it last for months and years. His personal preference is always the growing plants.

But I have never been accused of having a green thumb and after a disastrous gift of a gorgeous flowering Cyclamen when we were dating, he learned that plants aren’t so much my thing. Especially if I have to take care of them. 

Now, 10 + years into our marriage, living in a city with a sad lack of greenery compared to my growing up years, I enjoy having plants at home. Especially since I have a live-in green thumb that does all the work to care for them!

But the occasional bouquet of flowers still is very touching to me, knowing that it comes with a price tag of self-denial. I know it comes with a sincerely non-self-seeking love and that makes it far more valuable than the dollar value shows it to be. A little act backed by great love is quite a big act after all.//

I am continuing on with my Write 31 Days theme of "31 Days to Slowing Down and Living More Simply" with reflections based on my reading of Emily P. Freeman's book Simply Tuesday and the prompts given at the FMFW page. My "Five Minute Free Write" portion will be enclosed with // and any extra thoughts will follow.

For more '31 Days' Posts click here or on the tab at the top of the page.

Confronting Sin with Love

Prompt: Confront

// Confrontation has become a taboo word in our society of relativism and morals that promote not offending anyone above all else. Even in the church, where we mentally adhere to a fixed standard of morality rather than a relativism that embraces whatever someone feels like as a basis for discerning correct behavior, we are slipping in practice. 

Frequently these days I hear phrases like, “I just feel like God was telling me…” and “I know God wants me to be happy so…” When these sentences end with a thought or decision that clearly goes against God’s clearly revealed will in His word then we have a big problem, and one that needs to be confronted.

Yet confrontation seems so hateful in our present context.  We don’t want to make anyone feel bad so we decline to seek their highest good, through confrontation of issues that are harmful to them, in favor of making them feel better and maybe so they will like us more. //

This is not love. This is selfishness, foolishness, and cowardice. If we love someone we will confront any moral problems we see in their life, calling them for what they are and stepping alongside them on the journey to dealing with those issues. 

Perhaps one of the reasons that we see all confrontation as hateful is because we do see so much hate, or at least anger, combined with confrontation. But where hate or selfishness is the instigator when  vocalizing these issues, perhaps “blaming” and “shaming” and even “emotional stoning” would be a better choice of words than confrontation. 

If we can find the courage and hope in Christ to come to those we love with any necessary confrontation, in order to seek their good, then we can be a tool in God’s hands for bringing truth that frees. Because the truth always frees us, even if it is a hard truth to hear.

If someone comes to you in love, sincerely desiring your good, and confronts you on a particular issue, then take courage and know that you have a true friend and comrade on your side! Praise God for such a one who would risk himself, through risking your displeasure and a strain in your relationship which is clearly valued in this case, for the sake of your benefit. No greater love has no man than this.

I am continuing on with my Write 31 Days theme of "31 Days to Slowing Down and Living More Simply" with reflections based on my reading of Emily P. Freeman's book Simply Tuesday and the prompts given at the FMFW page. My "Five Minute Free Write" portion will be enclosed with // and any extra thoughts will follow.

For more '31 Days' Posts click here or on the tab at the top of the page.