A Net in Time

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As Gentle As a Purr

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Hmm…. what can I do with a five minute Friday word prompt that I didn’t expect?   The word this week is Gentle. Miss Kate just put up her post.   To be gentle is to either be moderate in action, effect, or degree; not harsh or severe  OR to be having or showing a mild, kind, or tender temperament or character.  If you were to use it as a verb you say that one would make or become gentle; calm or pacify.    You’ll find in today’s poem, that thinking on the word gentle led down a path unexpected with As Gentle As a Purr.

As Gentle As a Purr

As Gentle As a Purr

Ruminating I sat
Staring blindly at the screen
CSI playing
A murder is the scene.

Gentle is the prompt
I think this word
So hard
Haltingly I wonder…
as gentle as a purr?

You see, we have
this crazy cat.
She’s smart as a whip
busy and demanding
Her hiss is quite the hit!

Causing quick reaction
As backwards fast we move
A hiss always predicates
Fast moving paws.

When first she came
Thought we back must go
But then a bath surprised
She gave in, I knew ’twas a go.

Two years hence it’s been
And now in morning a purr
Gentle waking call
“human, get up, hungry is”

It causes me to consider
Christ action in my life
Could he be gentling me
Much like I gentled a cat?

Cutting back my hissing
and quick flying claws
Softening my words
And helping wisdom flood my words?

Reading words of wisdom
The Proverbs steep my bones
Reminding me to think,
To consider softly now my words.

Slowly and securely
Replacing the older me
Before I even notice
We have a wiser me!

Living out the call
Determined for my life
Be holy as I’m holy.
For my child oh thou art!

Scriptural Insight

Repeatedly stated in scripture, but specifically taken from Leviticus 20:26 

Thus you are to be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy; and I have set you apart from the peoples to be Mine.

Proverbs 20:5 The purpose in a man’s heart is like deep water,
    but a man of understanding will draw it out.

Proverbs 17:27  Whoever restrains his words has knowledge,
    and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding.

Matthew 11:29  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your soul.

Isaiah 40:11  He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young

 

Savour the moment

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So it’s Five minute Friday again and Miss Kate has posted this week’s word.  Savour is one of those words that evokes a variety of memories.  Savouring the beauty of a the world when one goes camping, savouring smells arising from a cookfire or stove in the house, savouring the smells of Christmas, Thanksgiving or Easter.  One can savour lessons learned and time with friends.  Currently we are in a change of seasons where out on a walk I can savour the moment as I gaze up spring flowers. 

I can also savour moments in the lives of others, victories with skills learned, total wins, and life skills solidified.  Isn’t it good to relish the successes gained in the lives of family and friends? 

savour the moment

Savour the Moment

Sunday afternoon
A quiet time to rest
Traditionally a day
When Mom is less stressed.

No meals to make
Unless desire to make
Perhaps today is
Time for some cake?

Leftovers await.
Inspiration may arise.
But hold… there’s a teen
Life skills must apprise.

Question arises
What does the lad think?
If on Sundays it’s his turn
For food and drink?

Sure mom he says
I can handle that
If you help abit
Lest the food all be flat!

Savour the moment
Flavours descend
A lad’s willing help
Oh… I might have to amend!

MOM! Help the cry!
I ask what’s betwist
We have no ingredient
Is the meal now a miss?

Teaching I help
The lad learn substitution
Learning a recipe’s a guide
Not always the full solution.

Savour the moment
When confidence is found
No longer hotdogs and soup
Now casseroles abound.

Savouring the moment
When skills learned in life
Mean the lad’s future
Is filled with less strife.

Able to cook,
And learn to adapt.
Part of life-learning
It all seems so apt.

savour the moment

Scriptural Insight

Proverbs 22:6

6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

 Genesis 9:2-3

“The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.”

Matthew 6:11

“Give us this day our daily bread.”

1 Chronicles 9:31

“Mattithiah, a Levite and the oldest son of Shallum the Korahite, was entrusted with baking the bread used in the offerings.”

How best to Enable

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Enable, that’s the word of the week provided for us by Miss Kate. To enable is to give (someone or something) the authority or means to do something.  My question today is, how best to enable?  What can we do to enable others to get or have or become whatever it is needed?

How best to enable

How best to enable

It’s but a moment
Takes just a couple of seconds,
Help me.

But in that help me
Might come some baggage.

A help me always
Requires a giving
A showing of need.

Sometimes, just sometimes
That’s a very hard thing to do.

I had a friend
Years past, Who lived
Close to the pocketbook.

Things were hard, but
Asking for help, harder.

I never understood this
This reticence to
Ask for help.

Until, older age and pain
Crept in, and asking for help. Hard.

That admitting of weakness.
That internal feeling of
Shame, and regret, and sorrow.

So I ponder
How do we enable
the asking of help?

While ensuring the
Continuation of dignity?

I admittedly have
No solid answer, but
I’m learning.

That conversations matter,
The taking time to listen.

Or even the taking time
To explain the why,
Or even to not explain.

Sometimes, the offer made
is all that is needful.

Without the expectation
that only you,
Can meet a need.

Sometimes the best way
to enable.

Is while listening
just lend a hand
without explanation.

And perhaps we will learn
how best to enable.

How best to enable

Scriptural basis

Exodus 17:12

When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset.

Galatians 6:2

Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

John 15:13

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

Matthew 5:16

In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

What does it mean to be Observant

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Miss Kate has once again given us a word prompt for the week.   Observant has a couple of different meanings.   First to be quick to notice things.  Second is adhering strictly to the rules of a particular religion, especially Judaism.  To be an observant believer could also be described as being a devout believer.  These two definitions fit well with each other don’t you think?   What does it mean to be observant?

What does it mean to be observant

What does it mean to be observant?

The question is asked.
An eyebrow raised in expectation.
What does it mean to be observant?

To be observant is
Noticing the details.
Not just the large, but
Also the small. It is to
Pay attention.

But not only to pay attention
but to consider what
such an observation means.

A filled laundry basket
at the bottom of the stairs.
Noticed.
But it is truly observed
if it’s simply left there?

A neighbour sighs
Long and deep
Noticed.
But it is truly observed
If you don’t query why?

The 10 commandments
written down.
Noticed.
but if you ponder them not
Are they truly observed?

A group of children
circled round a singleton
Noticed.
Is observation truly seen
if you don’t watch for a few minutes?

A baby bunny
huddled in a corner.
Noticed.
But if you don’t look it over carefully
Are you being observant?

How many times in life
do you see, but
don’t truly observe?
Observation acts.
It doesn’t merely notice.
Think you not?

What does it mean to be observant?

What does it mean to be observant

Scriptural Insight

James 1:16-27

26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

Exodus 34:11-12

11 “Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 12 Take care, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a snare in your midst. 

Proverbs 23:26

My son, give me your heart,
    and let your eyes observe my ways.

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Once Per Week

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Miss Kate was listed this week’s Five Minute Friday word prompt.  The word?  Once.   This is a welcoming encouraging community and I urge you to come join it.  Write, once per week, for five minutes, not worrying about perfection, just writing for the sheer joy of it.  🙂  Come won’t you?

Once Per week, text over pen writing

Once per week
Gathered round
Miss Kate posts
A word she’s found.

Coming in from
Round the world
What to say
What message unfurled?

Men and women
Faith is shows
In every word
Poetry and prose.

Encouragement flows
With every word
Hearts poured out
Rarely absurd.

Then before you know it
A comment made
And that is how
The Foundation is laid.

Growing, showing
Sometimes grieving
Rarely seeing
Anyone Leaving.

So once per week
Come and see,
What your words
Mean to me.

Scriptural Inspiration

The bible is full of verses that speak to how we as a body of believers need to be a source of encouragement for each other.  Today I share but a few of them.  This is the heart of the Five Minute Friday community.  Our ability to read the words of our fellows and then offer them encouragement. 

Romans 15:5

“May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had.”

 
1 Thess 5:11
“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.”
 
Hebrews 10:24-25
“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
 

The Master’s Design

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The Five minute Friday word of the week provided by Miss Kate is Design.  Conversations with my 15 year are the impetus for this post.   My goal with my lad it to leave him with questions, not just my answers.  He’s a thinker, so questions are good no?  The end result?   The Master’s Design, a poem.

The Master's Design

The Master’s Design

Do you agree
That mercy killing
of animals
Can be used as a reason
for mercy killing in people?
The question asked.

Yes, but
not for me.
I can see others saying
sure
We’d do it for
our suffering dog,
we should do it for
Suffering grandpa.
The question answered.

Shouldn’t people
be able to make the
decision though
that they want to die?
That today,
Today they have had enough?
The question continued.

It’s hard to answer
if a person should
be able to
make that decision.
That ultimate
rejection of life
given. Despite the pain.

It depends on how
you view people.
If you have a high view
that they are different
definably so
from the animals around.

For animals
Ending pain a mercy.
For people
Enduring pain
Might be a way for
them to see need for God,
or to show God,
to learn their failings
and to become more.
Think you on this?

See lad
God made people
definably different
than the animals.
If you think
we came from animals
Then… kill anyone
you want.
It makes no difference.

But if people are
different than animals
consider this:
could it be
the master’s design?
And if so
is pain a defining
reason to end life?

The Master's Design

Scripture Reveals

Genesis 1:26-27

26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

27 So God created man in his own image,
    in the image of God he created him;
    male and female he created them.

Genesis 2:7

7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. 

Romans 1:24-25

24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

Some articles giving more information

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Tick Tock

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YES!!!!!!!!!   Five minute Friday is back again!   I know I know, it was only a one week break… or was it two?   But Miss Kate listed the Five minute Friday at 10 p.m. tonight with the word Time.  I happily started my post and then suddenly my hubby was home from work… 1.5 hours later.  What a lovely nap I had!  I guess God knew better eh?  But my post, Tick Tock, stayed nicely in my head so when I woke up properly it was there to write.

Tick Tock

Tick Tock

Do you feel it running?
Tick Tock
Tick Tock
Do you hear it running?
Tick Tick Tock

Time marches on
Slowly, surely
Second after second.
Waits for no one
Tick Tick Tock

Take a moment to
consider how
Time is not ours to hold
It’s all held by God.
Tick Tick Tock

Not ours to hold
But every moment planned
As it, hmm, like maybe
today is meant for more.
Tick Tick Tock

Salvation, will it be
Today? Will you see
the beauty in each moment?
Tick Tick Tock

Time is found
within it, wisdom
Choices to make
God chooses our path
Tick Tick Tock

And how knows
as God orders our days
That perhaps, this situation
was meant for us.
Tick Tick Tock

It gives pause
As you look and see
How much control
God exerts with moments.
Tick Tick Tock

Tick Tock

Scriptural Inspiration

2 Corinthians 6:2

2 For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.

Ecclesiastes 3:11

11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

Proverbs 16:19

9 In their hearts humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps.

Proverbs 90:12

12 Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Ester 4:14

14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”

Col.4:5-6

5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.