Five Minute Friday

Replace, defined

August 25, 2023 By Annette1 12 Comments

So I had a bit of a false start with this word prompt today. I thought I could write easily about packing up the trailer to go camping today. Lots of ways the word replace could be used. Yet, God had something else in mind, so instead of replace in camping, I have replace, defined. Hopefully you’ll find some truth hidden within. 🙂

Replace in camping

Packing up a trailer
Decisions being made
What to take and what will stay
and can I do this instead of that?

It’s not easy to decide
if the white dishpan will do the
job as well as the rather
beat up brown one. Size is smaller
but it fits the spot I have easier
and space in a trailer.. well,
premium real estate!

Well that’s not working the way I wanted it to. So let me see if I can’t replace that poem with something that flows a bit better….

Replace, Defined

Replace, defined
take the place of.
Kinda like hmm…
Jesus took MY place on the cross.
A substitution took place
a fair few years back so that
instead of going to hell, my
final destination will the heaven.

Replace, Defined
fill the role of (someone or something) with a substitute.
Imagine this truth,
that when God sees us
instead of seeing dirty,
rather mucked up person.
He sees Christ. The pure, clean,
totally without sin, Saviour.

Replace, defined
put (something) back in a previous place or position.
Hmmm, I have a hard time here
trying to find a faith based idea with
the thought of putting something back into
position. Then I thought about how,
Jesus through his sacrifice, made it so
I could be right with God. He helped me
resume that position I was in BEFORE sin
entered the world.

In a Moment

August 18, 2023 By Annette1 13 Comments

This morning before heading to work I read the Five minute Friday word prompt. Moment. It’s not the first time she’s chosen the word moment, and you can read about that here. Anyways, immediately the expression, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye came to mind. As I went through my dad I continued to ponder what in a moments I could come up with. 🙂

For two years my lad has been NOT working on getting his G1 (like a beginners) … reasons like covid (and making appointments), no strong need to drive, and his “but I don’t know enough pass” thought processes. So for him to finally get it and do well… it’s a lovely step in the right direction. It’s one of those moments to savor you know?

In A Moment

Knowing this that in a moment
in the twinkling of an eye
Before you know it,
in a moment
life can change.

for instance
Christ could return
no more sorrow or pain
or uncertainty.
Just the glory of his
return and everything being made new.
I can’t really fathom it you know?
What will it mean to see everything
around me changed to reflect the true
glory of God himself?

In another moment,
Life can change.
An 18 year old can go from not
having his G1 to
having the joy of passing a test
he repeatedly thought he wasn’t
ready for and would never pass.

Or gather up another moment and
consider the disappointment of a
hoped for hire, who has instead taken
a position elsewhere….

Imagine if you would a moment,
a moment where you thought one
thing would be and then something else
completely different happened!
Like this very small moment of…
taking a break at work
and coming out expecting to restart
your job and then a Pineapple Sundae
from Dairy Queen awaits.

I learned today of the devastating hurt
it causes if a dad learns that the child
he thought was his own is the result of his
wife’s infidelity with some other man.
Two moments, well, perhaps three moments,
life changing…trust vs deception,
and innocence of a child loving a parent,
and yet Dad needs to figure how to handle it all.
Moments that change lives.

What might happen
in your next moment?

What’s the Impulse?

July 7, 2023 By Annette1 6 Comments

So this was actually a harder word to write on than I expected. I thought Impulse…that will be easy. But as I’ve gone throughout my day, yesterday and today, I couldn’t find something to write on. Then, as my family has gone to bed, and I listen to a horse story on TV as I fight joining my family in their “Z’s” suddenly I recalled a co-workers impulse this week and how it had an end result different than intended. The hurt felt was hard to witness, and harder still, to talk it through. It’s hard to understand sometimes why gifts can be angrily rejected.

What’s the impulse?

What’s the impulse
Can you say?
Is it obvious to you
or do you need to search
your heart and soul?

Perhaps your intentions
are easy to discern
a desire to help, to
perhaps bring some healing
to another soul?

But sometimes, even
when our intentions are good,
the person receiving them
sees the impulse, or the
intention differently than
what was meant!

Even our intentions,
our impulses to do good,
are fractured by the evil that
resides so deeply within.
God’s word tells us that
people are evil all the time.

Nothing we do, even when
we are well-intentioned,
is seen, in the eyes of God
as good, unless he sees
the veil of Christ over us.

It doesn’t really change
though the hurt one feels
when the impulse to do good
is rejected by the receiver
of such action.

How do we understand
the why of such rejection
without taking it
deeply to heart and realizing
the rejection tells us about the
receiver NOT the giftee?

I think it encourages us
to look deeply within
to see if perhaps, somehow
in the giving, we suggested
something other than intended, or
perhaps, that examination,
will give a clue to why
the receivee became a rejectee.

That further gives a chance
to add that person to our
prayer list that God would
continue to mind them full-well
and that perhaps you can
be guided to something kind
that will suit better.

But I don’t know,

what do you think?

God’s word speaks

Romans 7:13-19

¹³Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. ¹⁴For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. ¹⁵For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ¹⁶Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. ¹⁷So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. ¹⁸For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. ¹⁹For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. ²⁰Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

Ecclesiastes 9:3

This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead.

To have something different

April 21, 2023 By Annette1 8 Comments

Oh, I have it, I thought at work, I know what to write for Five Minute Friday. Miss Kate gave us the prompt Have. By the time I got home though… what I thought I had I didn’t. So I had to start my pondering again. But perhaps there’s something in that, which I can use. Let’s see where the words flow eh?

Well okay, that went in a completely different direction than what I had thought it would! Wow… okay. Um, yeah. God being God typing letters on my keyboard.

To Have Something Different

I considered it you know,
To do a poem based on
I have decided to follow Jesus,
because I love the story behind that
rather simple song.

Off and on I ponder
the world we will be
leaving behind to my most
beloved son (we’ve only one
lad so he can be my most beloved).

A world where men can call
themselves women and do and say
a variety of things that
actually belittle what they say
they want to be.

Men, who are still fully men,
saying they have their periods,
and that they are expecting,
one day, to get pregnant.

And I wonder… what sort of world
will my son have to navigate?
A world where people, wanting to change
genders, belittle the very gender
they profess to be and insist that
we must respect their mental illness.

And a t-shirt add I saw today reminded
me of something important.
For these people too,
did Jesus die.

Can I, see the deepest needs
of even such confused people,
such poorly informed people,
of their need for what
Jesus brings to the table?

Can I take their desire to
have something different, and
perhaps point them to Christ?

I will freely admit,
I haven’t a clue!
How do I reach people
that are so deluded?

See my own delusions?

Perhaps, maybe, by seeing
my own delusions? Because
just like everyone alive,
I can’t see the full ramifications
of sin upon my life.

And I don’t know sometimes
where my individuality as a person
ends and where the effects of sin
begins in my life.

Or maybe it’s all just
a shadow of sin regardless?

And so, if all are so deeply, and
profoundly affected by sin,
perhaps in that I can find
a connecting point?

And if I can find a connecting point
and others can find a connecting point
perhaps, just perhaps, this world
that my maturing son is facing,
won’t seem as scary?

We have to find it!

We have to find it you know?
A connecting point between us
and those who do not yet know
the truth of God.

And so by finding those points,
we might help those lost,
to hear God’s call
upon their lives.

But I have learned
that I have something different.
Something that is not sin-based, and
so I need to remember this.

Let not fear rule us.
God minds us full well.
and we can make that choice, that
come what may.
We will join in the story of
I have decided to follow Jesus.

And we will, I will,
make choices to encourage
the deluded around me to
consider their deeper need,
that need to connect with Christ.

Faith Connection

As I consider how my faith influenced this poem I am brought to mind of Paul saying he’d become all things to all people so that he might reach them for Christ.

These verses are just one small section of chapter 9 in 1 Corinthians. Go read the whole chapter eh?

¹⁹For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. ²⁰To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. ²¹To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. ²²To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. ²³I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

How do we form those connections so that others might share in the blessings of Christ?

I Feel Like I Need A Break

April 1, 2023 By Annette1 8 Comments

Well, here we are again at the end of the week. And since I feel like I need a break so I guess that fits well with this week’s theme eh? Miss Kate has offered the challenge of the word Break. Perhaps you might like to join us? Write for five minutes, and then offer encouragement to those who have gone on before. It’s a lovely community that you might find a nice home in. 🙂

I Feel Like I Need A Break

I Feel Like I Need A Break
or so I’d like to think
Wondering if I’m not careful
I might end up in the drink!

Balancing work and family,
and small businesses beside,
friends and faith,
fall to the way betide…

But I do need to question when
I Feel Like I Need A Break
if perhaps it just a sign
of change I need to make?

When I feel like I need a break
often it means that life
is tad bit unbalanced
causing stress and strife.

And mostly what I’m missing
is family time
and most importantly God and
Making neither part-time.

So When I find myself in need
of a break it’s a call
to get myself back on track
and not live in the squall

of discontent and self-centeredness
and remember whose I am
and who I am in relationship
with with all my friends and fam.

God speaks into this

Deuteronomy 31:8

“It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”

Philippians 4:9-10

“And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.”

Hebrews 13:5-6

“Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’

So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?'”

Who Follows the Story?

March 26, 2023 By Annette1 8 Comments

So last week there was the word story, and this week the word follow….. These words make sense to have in sequence. Therefore not being able to participate last week, I feel like I could easily combine the two! 🙂 My working title for this piece is Who Follows the Story?

Who follows the story?

Who follows the story
I have to ask
when tonight I’m reminded that
a good friend and I have
a much different taste in literature.

Who follows the story that
I might write
weaving words in
a loose poetic form
do they hear whose
story I tell?

Are the readers ones that
I might suspect they are,
female, in-faith-walkers,
and if not, who might they be?

If I like fantasy, murder
mysteries, and history,
might my readers enjoy the
same or focus on something different?

If the minor prophets
draw me in more, sometimes
deeper, than the New Testament
authors (excepting Peter)
what does that say about me?

On those author about pages
where we learn that one might
fish, read magazines about dogs,
and have twenty children…

What would followers want to
know about me? Beyond my love
of rabbits and books and my
devotion to kith and kin.

Because the authors I follow
I don’t concern myself with
their about me pages. 🙂
BUT God’s about me page…

It’s covered in 66 books
all contained within one cover
and reading his words
you discover his identity.

That I think is how I’d
like readers to learn about me
finding me in the story I write
as God shows up helping me
to point others to him…
and least that’s my hope! 🙂

So do you follow my story?
if you aren’t following my story
are you at least following HIS?

As whose Story do we read?

2 Timothy 3:16-17

¹⁶All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, ¹⁷so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

2 Peter 1:16-21

¹⁶For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. ¹⁷For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” ¹⁸we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. ¹⁹And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, ²⁰knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. ²¹For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Many

February 17, 2023 By Annette1 12 Comments

So it’s a quiet Friday evening, and I’m sitting here watching Rizzoli and Isles with my sweetheart. I’ve been pondering this word many off and on throughout the day. Still have no solid idea, so I figured I’d do what I do in such situations and simply start writing. It’s amazing how God always provides some sort of words for me.

Many

Sitting here wondering
what should I write?
A simple word prompt being many
after a day of some stress.

A tight rein on a temper
is how I live life
And yesterday an incident
caused it to get away from me.

It left me shaking
an hour afterwards
realizing that something
hard would need to be done.

I almost decided to
bible study not to go
but the weather a long walk
facilitated not.

Bible study I thought
would remind me of God
and the calm of his presence
ever filling my mind.

One thing was brought up
about forgiveness running
true, and how many times we
are called to give it.

Forgiveness isn’t always the
easiest thing to give and
people asked many questions such
as what if….

The person isn’t repentant,
or the offender can’t be found,
what if you’re still angry, or hurt?
Or the event caused grievous harm?

After all these questions, the
thought of our many was the same,
without forgiveness, you can’t let go,
and then harm within you stays.

Forgiveness helps you
to let go of the hurt and pain,
and doesn’t necessarily mean
that all is made good.

But it means that the continued
harm within is stopped.
God’s grace is shown
in ways we can’t always see.

So do it again, and again,
my friend, my reader,
as many times as needed
forgive, and forgive some more.

Heal your heart.
Ease your mind.
Stop practicing hurt.
See God’s grace in action.

God’s word for us

Matthew 18:21-22

²¹Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” ²²Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.

Colossians 3:12-14

¹²Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, ¹³bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. ¹⁴And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.