Hello hello! It’s time for the first Five Minute Friday link-up of August 2022, and this week also happens to mark the EIGHTH anniversary since I started hosting this beautiful community. Eight years! Shocking. It’s been such a joy and privilege, and I am honored to create space for all of us to gather and share words together week after week. So glad you’re here!
If you’re new to the Five Minute Friday community, you can learn more about the link-up and how it works here.
Be sure to join the FMF email list, as we have lots of fun things coming up in September and October that you won’t want to miss!
This week’s FMF writing prompt link-up is: TOGETHER
When my family asked me what I wanted for my birthday this year, I admit that I started to think about the “usual” types of gifts . . . but I soon realized I really don’t need or want more “stuff.” Instead, I decided to ask for time together. I told my sister I wanted to go blueberry picking together, and I told two of my kids (separately) that I wanted them to take me out for ice cream (separately). 😉 Genius, right? I told my 15-year-old son that I also wanted him to take a picture with me at the ice cream place, to which he replied, “That sounds like two gifts to me.”
Maybe it’s the fact that I only have a few years left before my kids fly the nest. Maybe it’s the long weeks, months, and years of the pandemic that have prevented us from seeing as many people in person as we would have liked. Maybe it’s just because I’m getting older. Whatever the case, I’m cherishing the time together even more than before.
May I never take these seemingly mundane moments for granted, and remember that I am not promised tomorrow. God has been gracious to give me these 41 beautiful years, and I have no idea how many more I may get in this life. As long as He sees fit to grant me more days, may He also give me the grace to not squander them but instead bear fruit with His help and for His glory.
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Speaking of being together, how about an opportunity to WRITE together in real time?
Our next Writing Accountability Group is happening in September, and I’d love for you to join the fun!
More info coming soon including a link to register, but in the meantime, here are the basics:
WHEN:
Wednesdays and Fridays in September
11:00am-12:30pm EST
(Total of eight sessions)
COST: $24
Stay tuned for more info. Hope you can join us!
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Join the link-up with your own five-minute freewrite below, then visit your link-up neighbor to read their post and leave an encouraging comment!
Eight years! This is for you, Kate, with deepest respect, and with love.
This wonderful community
has meant so much to me,
taught pride and raw humility,
and urged my soul to be
something that I thought beyond
my grasp, my aspiration,
but in being here I’ve found
an active contemplation
of my place in God’s own eyes,
of His loving heart,
such that I could not despise
my small and humble part,
but took acceptance of my role
in His tapestry, the whole.
Beautiful, Andrew. I don’t know how you do it! Thank you.
Thank YOU, dear Kate. It’s not overstating the case to say that Five Minute Friday has kept me going through a really vicious pair of cancers, against the odds, and outliving my own doctor.
Oh yes, together is best! And a picture with a 15 year old son is a rare gift… especially if he actually smiles! God bless your 41st year. Thank you, Kate, for giving us this space to connect as writers!
Thank you for hosting so faithfully for 8 years, Kate! This community has blessed me so much. I just realised that next week I will have been blogging for 7 years. It seems like time is moving so quickly!
I always prefer time with a loved one or an act of service over more stuff.
What a beautiful group of birthday gifts! Happy belated birthday! I need to try this style of birthday/Christmas gifts out in the coming months! Thank you for sharing as we are on a similar point in our parenting path. <3 those teens! BUT, it's hard to get them out sometimes just one on one! BUT we can be intentional and make it happen with God's help.
Jenn Cook
I always ask for a family activity for my birthday and for Mother’s Day! Time together with my people is the best gift. Happy Birthday!