Welcome to the first Five Minute Friday blog link-up of 2020! I took a two-week hiatus to spend time over the holidays with family, and it was such a restful and restorative break. But of course, I’m glad to be back!
If you’re new to the Five Minute Friday community, a special welcome to you!
Click here to learn more about the link-up, and click here to join the mailing list so you don’t miss out on any important news or updates!
Our first FMF writing prompt of 2020 is: DIRECTION
This morning I opened the curtain above my kitchen sink just in time to see the sun rising over the building and trees across the street.
I should be used to it by now, but it always makes me pause in amazement.
We’ve lived in this house for seven years — longer than any other place since my husband and I got married over 15 years ago. Seven years, and I’m still arrested by the sunrise visible in the same place every day.
Just after Christmas, we drove from Michigan to Florida. One evening we visited a state park with a dock over a bay just as the sun was about to set, and I was surprised by the direction in which it melted into the horizon. I felt disoriented, as if I were facing the wrong direction.
The experience made me reflect on which direction I’m facing in life, and what direction I want to walk in the new year. Where am I trying to go? What am I trying to achieve? Which goals and milestones am I hoping to reach, and what steps do I need to take to get there?
If we’re not careful, we can easily wander with our heads down day after day, forgetting to open the curtain and look up to see which direction we’re facing.
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Just a heads up: I’m putting together a 10-Day Writing Prompt Challenge that I’ll be launching soon! We’ll be using the first 10 prompts from The 90-Day Writing Prompt Journal.
Purchase is NOT necessary to participate in the free challenge, but if you’d like to get the full paperback journal so you can write on paper and continue after the first 10 days, you can order it on Amazon here:Â
ORDER THE 90-DAY WRITING PROMPT JOURNAL
Join the link-up by adding your own five-minute free write below, then visit your link-up neighbor to read their post and leave an encouraging comment:Â
There’s only one direction here,
just one twist of fate;
load the mags and drink your beer
and teach yourself to hate.
Hate the pain and hate the fever,
hate the hopeless day on day;
hate what healing’s not delivered
but don’t forget to pray.
God will have to figure out
hard truths I don’t understand,
that He can, I have no doubt,
but this is still my land,
and I will fight it to the end
unto the loss of every friend.
We’ve also now lived in one house for the longest time in our married year.
We live in FL, and I too love the sunrise in the east and the sunset in the west.
Sunsets are God’s watercolors in my opinion.
He is very artistic indeed! Hope you have a glorious sunrise/sunset watching day!
Sincerely,
jenn cook
THIS IS THE WAY! Now, walk in it! DIRECTION.
Good, thoughtful questions for the New Year! God is faithful to give us guidance.
I love that imagery of opening the curtain to see the sunrise…it never fails to awe:) Thanks so much for your commitment and hard work with FMF. I look forward to each week and have already been enjoying “getting back into it” this week! I’m looking forward to the prompts – and all that learn from those who join – each week!
Love this Kate! The imagery of pulling back the curtain is powerful! Excited for the new year in the Five Minute Friday community!
Road signs come to mind when I think of “direction.” Only then the word has an”s” at the end, usually. Direction for my life means something quite different–quite singular. Since I entered my 7th decade of life in 2019, my reflections have gotten more srious. How much time left to me to fulfill God’s purpose for my life? In what direction shall I channel my time, talents, and treasure? What ways (plural again) should I follow to connect with our 20 grandchildren? Lifelong verses from Proverbs come to mind: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.
Dieaction: This morning I open my front door and watch the birds eat from the bird feeder. Then the little squirrel can upon the porch and out upon the rail and are the squirrel food from the pie pan I put out there to put food in. One Saturday we visit a state park drove through the park very slow to take in all the beautiful things to take in all the things God made for us. I was surprised by the direction in which it melted into God’s beautiful horizon. The experience made me reflect on which direction I am facing in my life an what direction I want to walk in the New Year which goals and milestones am I hope to reach. I may have a goal that I want to write everyday for Gods glory. To eat healthy and exercise everyday to lose weight because of my Liver is in large. To keep a Spiritual journey to write in it every day and begin with Dear God. My missiom: My desire to write God and bring hope and encouragement through my words both written and spoken to everyone I meet ,both in person and online. I always liked to write. I was in six grade.I wanted to be a writer, but I change my mind many time like people usually do. Now I’m back to it a bit.Writing can also be therapeutic sometime.