Five Minute Friday: Imagine
Imagine a world with no burnout. My world with no burnout.I used to imagine, hope, dream, plead for a world with no suffering, no pain, no poverty.Instead, I imagine a life in full color. Fully engaged. Every word flowing from my brain a living, breathing spark of the divine.I imagine the ideas swirling to bursting. The sleeplessness from anticipation of the next day's work, the next day's challenge.I imagine a world where I know my place, my calling, my vocation. It's hard to not just look back--to what I had and what I lost. To what has not yet been restored.But imagine means to think of something new. Something not yet tested or found wanting.Today I imagine work or writing or encouragement that FILLS to overflowing. That brings hope and life to others. That serves and glorifies the One who placed this vocation, these skills, this hope within me. I imagine a work that relieves, if just for a short while, if just for one person, suffering and pain and poverty.I imagine and I wait.***
This post is part of Lisa Jo Baker’s Five Minute Friday prompt, Imagine. Every Friday, we turn off our inner critics and perfectionists and just write for five minutes straight. Zero editing. Just a stream of conscious free for all. And then we all link up and encourage each other. To learn more about Five Minute Friday and how you can participate click here.
The Writing that I Used to Know
It took me awhile to recognize you on the radio. The first few times I heard you, I probably didn't even notice. And then when I finally matched your lyrics to your melody, I was hooked.
I downloaded you on iTunes. Listened to you on morning jogs, while typing emails, while falling asleep. I. was. obsessed.I thought I would never tire of you. I thought you would always be my favorite.I don't know when the transition happened. When the first strums of "du du-un, du du-un, du dun dun dun dun dun" started to irk instead of perk.But it happened. I started playing you less. Started changing the station when you came on. Found other songs to sweat and type to. It didn't help that everyone else was obsessed with you, too.Now you're there, sharing a corner of my brain and My Top 25 with Adele's Rolling in the Deep, Damien's Cannonball and anything by Mumford and Sons.You're an old favorite song. Sometimes I listen to you. Sometimes I get nostalgic or accidentally hit shuffle. And as you do your thing, I wonder what it was I saw in you in the first place. I have a vague idea of why liked you. A sweet as cotton candy memory of when we first met. When you used to make me soar. But now, for the life of me, I can't listen to you all the way through.***Sometimes I feel this way with words. With what I've written. With what I write.Sometimes it feels like all the same song. The same tune. The tired fiddle.Writing feels like something that used to be my favorite, but now makes me cringe--like my junior high bangs or Christian pop band posters from (dare I say it) college.I'm still going to write. Like I'm still going to listen to music. But I can't help but wonder what happened to the writing that I used to know.***This post is part of Lisa Jo Baker’s Five Minute Friday prompt, Song. Every Friday, we turn off our inner critics and perfectionists and just write for five minutes straight. Zero editing. Just a stream of conscious free for all. And then we all link up and encourage each other. To learn more about Five Minute Friday and how you can participate click here.
Five Minute Friday: Rest
I apologize for the lack of blogging this week. I've had strep throat, and if I had attempted to write anything before today, it would have been an homage to my fleece sheets and vinegar gargle.But I'm feeling up for a quick Five Minute soiree back into the land of the living, or at least the writing.For a few months now, I've the pleasure of participating in Lisa Jo Baker's Five Minute Friday blogging challenge. Every Friday, a group of eclectic bloggers turn off our inner critics and perfectionists and just write for five minutes straight. Zero editing. Just a stream of consciousness free for all. And then we all link up and encourage each other. To learn more about Five Minute Friday and how you can participate click here.Today's Five Minute Friday theme is, fittingly, REST.Go.An homage to fleece sheets may not be off base after all. Rest. I've had too much of it this last week and still want to sleep for days.I don't rest much without being forced. And this week I was forced. A forced retreat. A forced reset.As my body fights toxins, I contemplate what other toxins I need to cleanse from life.Is this a chance to reset not just my immune system, but my whole system?A chance to plot and plan small, deliberate steps to choosing a fuller, deeper life?To reset my mind. To reset my soul.To cleanse my life of the toxins thatdistractdulldisconnectand devalue life and time and relationships.Ha. Of course I see rest as I time where I need to DO something. Figure something out. Be active in my own cleansing.I can't just be. Just let the Healer do His thing. I look for my own part, my own failure or challenge.Is that true rest?He calls us to be faithful even in the small things. Can I be faithful enough to just be still?