Welcome to this week’s edition of the Five Minute Friday link-up! Each week we gather around a single word prompt, set a timer for five minutes, and let our fingers fly. You can join us by sharing your work in the link-up below, then meet other writing friends in the community!
Learn more about the link-up and how it works here
This week’s FMF writing prompt is: CHOICE
Setting my timer for five minutes, and . . . GO.
This week, my husband and I celebrated twenty years of marriage by the grace of God.
I felt the weight of this occasion this year, as we know of so many people who have either lost a spouse recently, have a spouse with a terminal illness, got divorced recently, or are in the early stages of divorce.
Reflecting on these realities makes me not take an anniversary like this one for granted.
My aunt often says, “Your anniversary is the only holiday you have to work to keep.”
As I took time to think back on the past twenty years, I realized that so much of our lives revolve around the choices we make. Who we choose to marry. Where we choose to live. But more than that, we often have a choice in how we respond to (almost) any given situation.
We can choose to be angry or to let it go.
We have a choice to forgive or hold a grudge and be bitter.
We can choose to serve or be selfish.
We have a choice to give grace or withhold it.
May the Lord enable us to choose the option that makes us more like Christ and shows the world what it looks like to live as a forgiven sinner.
STOP.
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FEATURED RESOURCE
A Place to Land: A Story of Longing and Belonging
In honor of our 20th anniversary, I’m highlighting the book that tells it all . . . my memoir! 🙂
In this book, you’ll read all about how I ended up marrying a South African and living in Cape Town for ten years.
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Join us with your own five-minute freewrite on the prompt, CHOICE, in the link-up below, then visit your link-up neighbor to read their post and leave an encouraging comment:
‘Twas said that they would bind your hands
and take you to fell places
far from your own cherished lands
and their gentle graces.
The choice to follow Christ was yours,
but not the consequences
that the man of faith endures
beyond the steel-barbed fences
erected by the ones who hate,
and would live steeped in sin.
Because you would not share that fate,
they cannot let you win,
and bring them to Love’s shining light,
the end of their familiar night.
Four minutes. OK.
Wow. 🤩. A lot to process here. Great thoughts. My first was “count the cost”. What a good point to ponder – the choice to follow is mine, but what of all that happens after I choose to follow! Cool rhyming!
Happy Anniversary!
Thanks for the great photo! Congrats! Boy, it takes work. But it’s worth it. God bless you with Many Many more years! (Dave and I made it to 41 yrs.)
First, Happy Anniversary to you both!!!
This >> “We have a choice to give grace or withhold it.” May we always choose to give grace. It’s the choice we will never regret.
Choice…
The Kingdom of God is a dichotomy. Constantly pondering this or that! A time to hold and a time to let go. A time for peace and a time for war.
Thank you Lord Jesus for the Holy Spirit that helps us know what TIME IT IS!
What time is it right now for me? It’s time to let go and allow the pruning. To choose to let go of all I used to hold so dear because it helped me stay safe and in control. Albeit a false safety and a false sense of control.
Here I am now God. Surrendering all. Making a choice. From this point on- my face is like flint. You are my safety. You are my hiding place. No longer choosing the false safety that is found in perceived control. Come find me Lord and heal me!
Show me the way into life everlasting. I choose a new way. It will be hard. But I will choose to remember I don’t wrestle against flesh and blood. But rulers and powers and authorities in the heavenly realm assigned to make sure I don’t choose you Lord for my safety. To make sure I choose control and demand and my own way so I feel safe. You are my Lord. And I want to feel safe with you!
In Jesus name amen!
Happy Anniversary! I read your memoir and agree with Liz Curtis Higgs.
Congratulations on your anniversary!