Welcome to this week’s edition of the Five Minute Friday link-up! Every week we gather around a one-word prompt, set a timer for five minutes, and write our hearts out.
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This week’s Five Minute Friday writing prompt is: ASSUME
Setting a timer for five minutes, and . . . GO.
I recently became part of a new-to-me community, a community that has been established for a while but I only recently joined. Coming in from the outside, it has taken a while for me to figure out who’s who and what’s what. And I’ve realized (the hard way) that I have made a number of assumptions based on various factors and stereotypes that have been completely incorrect.
As I’ve started to get to know people in this community a bit better, I’ve discovered that those individuals who look on the outside to “have it all together,” often have endured incredibly difficult hardships and providences. Those who look as if they have “picture perfect” lives have had anything but once you get past the surface.
Some have lost children. Others have loved ones in jail. Some have endured abuse. Others deal with chronic pain.
As I’ve listened to stories that have deepened my compassion and empathy, this quote has frequently come to mind:
“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”
I have assumed, and I have been wrong.
I’ve forgotten that everyone is fighting a battle — sometimes visible, and always invisible.
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” ~ Ephesians 6:12, ESV
So let’s be kind, and let’s link arms and fight the battle together.
STOP.
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There’s still time to sign up for the live workshop happening Wednesday, March 1st!
How to Self-Publish Your Book on Amazon
LEARN MORE AND SAVE YOUR SPOT HERE
I’ll be sharing my screen and walking step-by-step through the process of getting your book published on Amazon.
The workshop will be recorded, but only available to those who register in advance.
There will also be a Q&A session at the end.
Hope to see you there!
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Join the link-up with your own five-minute freewrite on the prompt, ASSUME, then visit your link-up neighbor to read their post and leave an encouraging comment!
Sure, two kinds of cancer
that are fatal, yeah, so very sad,
but if you want an answer,
baby, it is not really that bad
when compared to, say, Sudan,
and wells that poison kids,
or to the mullahs in Iran
who want to nuke the Yids.
No one takes a shot at me
more than twice a week,
and water’s full of purity,
so I know of which I speak
that dying is the price we pay
for the Fall, and that’s OK.
Four minutes flat, but some footnotes…
I was raised by an Orthodox Jewish family, and they called THEMSELVES Yids. I have a mezuzah at the door.
Some nutcase on the mesa occasionally shoots at me when I am out with the dogs. His aim is pathetic, and Barb once nearly chased him down.
I love your take on assuming as I e recently moved to a new state, new home and neighborhood. God led us here with the invitation, “Come and learn.”
I’m trying daily to learn and keep my feet out of my mouth.
Thank you Kate for these prompt words and your own sharing of ideas. Not making assumptions to me is closely tied often to not judging. It is a practice a friend of mine calls holding loosely to ideas.
If I may be indulged a second comment… I have a donkey on my heart.
Did the faithful ass recall
Whom he carried on that day,
and did sorrowful tears yet fall
as he chewed his daily hay?
Did he think back on gentle Hand
that stroked his ears as people sang
the songs he could not understand
but in him bell of fierce joy rang?
Did the ass in patience wait
upon the fading fronds
by that lonely city gate
as his newfound bonds
with God on the Cross were broken,
to be in three days re-awoken?