Word Prompt

Sight is the word prompt this week.   Not the easiest word for me to work with, and eventually I remembered a song we did in church and how a line caught my attention.   Clearer sight is what I need.   Particularly when it comes to trusting.  Let’s wak with my thought process.   What about you, when do you need clearer sight?

Clearer Sight

This morning in church
communion, and a sermon
about trust God in
Three different ways.

A song with the line
“eyes to see”. The
song filled with references
to trusting Jesus in knowing truth.

The question comes to
me tonight as I ponder
sight. How much do I
trust God, trust Jesus,
to help me see truth well?

How much of knowing God
is me trusting my own
wisdom, my own intellect
to discern what is being said?

Do I truly rely on God
to teach me truth What part
of studying his word is
my own decision and
therefore failing?

Would trusting him more
led to less failure and
struggle in this regard?
And so how to I build
on the trust factor?

And that question brings
me to the crux of it
you see it yes?
How does one build
trust in a specific area
when one wants to do
it themselves.
Independent and capable
not needing anything
or anyone to make it work.

It’s a constant battle
So how does one have
clearer sight to see the
need to trust more deeply?

I need to more like a
little child, one who
sees clearly the one they
are trusting in and just
take that leap, or hold that
hand, or just accept the
care given.

Oh, hold on, that’s what
I need to see.
The Care Given.
God cares. Genuinely cares.
It matters to him.

And just like it mattered
when I needed to trust
my earthly dad, and so I
trusted him. So to, it
matters that I trust God
and so must needs do.

It matters.
So prayer.
Continued conversation.
Time (not mine to manage)
Reading and/or listening
and contemplation.
Trust God to manage it.

Ta-da!!!  It’s five minute Friday again, and today’s word is brief.   Brief takes me in a number of different directions from thinking about the significance of a briefcase, to how I don’t want to be brief, and how briefness is sometimes a good thing.  BUT how briefness is often times NOT a good thing in today’s society.   Hmm… which way shall I run today?   Well I did get something written on Sunday but…. Didn’t really like it in the end so had to give more thought.  In the end I came up with the briefest way I can say it.

The Briefest Way I can Say it

Hubs and I were chatting today
on the way home from church.
The bible makes it very clear.
Salvation, briefly stated,
is a firm belief that Jesus
died for our sins, was raised from the dead,
and lives in heaven. He died, willingly,
so that we could be made right again.

That’s it.
There’s lots of window dressing
in the faith. All things
that are important, but
those items, as important as they are,
are NOT the pivotal point in having
relationship with God. To having
true faith in God.

Do you know that Jesus died
for YOUR sins?
Do you recognize your need to
says Sorry God, I’ve been wrong?
Can you see what Jesus did?
The choice God made in having HIS
most beloved boy come to earth, live
a human life, then to die FOR YOU?

That’s the thing
that the most important thing.
In a nutshell, in
the briefest way I can say it.

We sinned.
God saw it.
He made the choice
to make a way for us
to come back to him.

And that is the Christian
faith, understanding, believing,
that God made the way.

Not how we are baptized.
Not how we live out the
gifts of the Spirit.
It doesn’t matter the
denomination, or any of the
trappings around how we live
out that faith.

The pivotal part is
this… do we know Jesus
and his death and
his resurrection?

How would you briefly
lay out what it means to
love God and to be saved
by him?

God Speaks

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Rom 6:23

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Jn 3:16

⁹ But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. ¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.  1 Pet 2:9-10

I haven’t missed two FMF posts in a row for a VERY long time now, and these past two weeks I missed a couple of good ones. I don’t have the email suggestions for them anymore, but one of them was for the word Approval. Would have been a good one to write, but sometimes life intervenes in plans made. Today let’s consider what it means to be responsible.

What it means to be responsible

What it means to be responsible
is sometimes hard to figure.
Leaving one’s own wants and
desires to meet the needs of another
sometimes.

Such as choosing to help, instead of writing
a blog post, a new poem of the week,
taking the time to sand,
and then paint a new to us vanity.

Responsibility has one
benefitting at times.
When doing what is right
and needful has a reward.

Working hard at a job
mostly on one’s own due
to vacation needs of
co-worker, extra hours earned.

Being able to do one’s job
requires restfulness and sleep
and fighting an ear infection
meant early bedtimes.

Responsibility means
making choices between hobbies
such as writing as well as
critter raising with household needs.

Dishes need washing, lawns need mowing,
cats need minding, beds to be made,
and laundry down. Hubby’s need
conversation. Leaving time for bed!

So I think about these past two weeks
and decisions I had to make that
left me poem-less in all my
responsibilities and…

I think of Jesus choosing
his responsibilities. He wanted
the cup to be removed, but accepted
it could not be so filled his responsibilities.

He died so that we could
have right relationship with God.
Increasing God’s family size, his family size,
while ensuring victory over evil.

Matthew 26:36-39

³⁶ Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” ³⁷ And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. ³⁸ Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” ³⁹ And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”

I saw the word here (the word prompt from Miss Kate) and the thought that immediately popped into my mind was “where are you now?” I figure I can write about the word here using that as my starting point. Shall we see how it goes?

Where are you now?

Sitting here
watching SVU where
a lady and her group of
detectives help people
folk from sexual abuse.
But is it really where I am?

My thoughts are on the word
here, so the show is actually
just noise in the background.

Earlier today I was
at work, my manager
busy preparing for
her vacation. Lots of
prep needed to make sure
I knew what I needed to
cover in her absence.

Was she at work?
Yes, but not really.
Her mind was at home and all
the packing she has yet
to do for 13 days away.

I attend services on Sunday
at the church
30ish minutes away.
Sometimes my activity levels
mentally prevent easy
listening and attention
giving so my mind needs
extra help that note taking
doesn’t cover.

Occasionally I’ll take
out my phone and play a
game which gives me just
a bit of a mental push
and I can focus, and
sometimes hubby asks
“Where are you now?”

He’ll see the note taking
stop and notice I’m not
looking up and thinking.
Because I’ve let myself
get lost and need a
conscience pull back.

He’s quiet and discreet.
And he shows his love
in so many ways, and
often points me back
to God our creator.

Despite my wandering
busy mind. My lack of
focus which drives me
nuts so very often.

That quiet
“where are you now?”
calls me back.

So have you ever been
asked the question
Where are you now
when focus on something
more is needed?

Guess what?   I’m back from vacation.  Hubsters and I had an excellent time away.  We came back to a very upset kitten (how dare we let strangers stay in the house).  She’s so happy we are home, she’s very single-minded about her need to stay close to hubsters or myself.  Her single-minded devotion a clear reminder to me of how we are to be with God.  Single-minded in our devotion to him, not of half a mind like it’s so easy to be. 

Half a Mind

I’ve half a mind
to tell you off.
Letting you know
you’ve crossed the line.

With half my mind
I think at times
I’ve lost my marbles,
or maybe it’s just my keys.

Weighing out the benefits,
my hesitancy shows
as I can’t make up my
mind about the issue at hand.

Take your time,
think things through,
be as uncertain
as the situation demands.

But be warned,
being of half a mind
isn’t always a good
thing, oh no no no.

Don’t be of half a mind
when it comes to faith
in God. Without full
faith, spewing will occur.

God doesn’t care for
the lukewarm believer.
A warning given sure,
be single-minded!

Run the race with
all your might.
Persevere, Fight,
believe, be fervent!

God holds tight
to those he calls
his own. So hold tight
to him right back!

Revelation 3:14-20

¹⁴ “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:

I had a yardsale this weekend, the second one I had this year.   I did not expect to do as well at the second as I did at the first.  You see, I didn’t have the “draw people in” items for this sale.  BUT I still sold a fair amount of stuff and met some fun people.  Afterwards I started to wonder, as I was packing stuff up and thinking, I’ll not do this again.  Is this just a phase?  Will I choose to never have a yardsale again and just post stuff on facebook? Or kijiji or  just give stuff away?

I would miss the funny people.   Like the lady who came through and talked to herself as she went through what I had out. “oh, this is a pretty quilt, oh look, she has Christmas stuff… what fun. Oh no, remember, you don’t have money for Christmas stuff. ‘ and then when she reached my books “OH DELIGHT!  She must have been an educator, just look at all these books!?!?!?”   To my delight she actually picked some of them up.  🙂   

Or the lady who obviously came from a background of bartering.  She and I had a whole lot of fun bartering back and forth about the value of an obviously fairly new purse from my mom.  She tried so hard to get me to completely drop my price but she alas didn’t succeed.  🙂  But to thank her for giving me so much fun I let her take a small plant home for free.   Her poor hubby got kinda caught in the middle and left looking a little shell shocked but… he bought the knife he was interested in.  🙂 

I will never miss the nickle and dimers, or the sour looks of people not getting their own way, or the people who refuse to have a bit of fun.  It’s a yardsale, a time to have brief connection with folk, not a time to get mad or mean.  Be friendly, smile, and realize it’s the best way to get a deal.  🙂 

So whether or not how I’m feeling right now is just a phase or not.  There are pros and cons to holding a big sale all a once.  So time will tell how it is in the long run eh?  🙂 

Just a Phase

i have to wonder
is it just a phase,
is it something that
everyone goes through?

but then i think no,
i have a sis who would
rather give something away
then to try to sell it.

for i know another lady
like me (but a few years
ahead) who loved to
sell her stuff.

and now in her older years
would rather give things
away then deal with
the buying public.

and i am finding myself
reaching for that
same mind set.
people are weird,

do i really want
to deal with the
weirdness of people
being anywhere near my house?

still though, i love
that barter aspect, the
people knowing, smiling,
the joint satisfaction.

my lands, at the same time,
all the work and the prep,
and all that “other” that
goes with it all.

there i feel it and
think it’s best to copy my
friend and just give anything
i don’t need/want away.

it is so much
easier to do that eh?
to find a thrift shop of
choice and say done.

Contemplating….

being in a contemplative
mood this of course makes me
ponder, do i do the same
with my faith?

starting with the strong desire
to connect and make smiles,
life changes, and what not, and
then overtime say meh, it’s easier

to not worry about connecting
with people or helping them
discover needs yet unmet
it’s easier not to you know?

so hmm….what now?
i was challenged today by
a Instagram post about
defining self-control

and how easy it is to
turn our lack of it into
something that truly it
isn’t so…. isn’t this

kinda the same?
not working out our
faith in fear and trembling
but it’s easier not to.

it’s easier to rephrase
it as “i’m getting older”,
“it’s not my gifting”,
and such like.

shouldn’t we continue
pressing on? remembering
it’s a race we’re in and
every step counts in the winning.