Five Minute Friday-Laugh

Photo by Pro Church Media on Unsplash

Today I am participating in Five Minute Friday, where a group of writers get together and free write about a one word prompt for 5 minutes. Today's word is "laugh." 

Begin.

Laugh. There is so much to laugh about and so much to be thankful for. So much joy. I can look around me and here in this moment I can smile. I have family and a warm place to live. 

My drink is hot and tasty this morning-turmeric, black pepper, cinnamon, ginger and oat milk. It has become my new morning drink, and is especially nice since it turned cold.

I can see my fabrics I have bought and cut already to make Christmas pillowcases. I have been thinking a lot lately about what makes me happy, nostalgia mostly.

 I need that warmth right now because this is my Christmas without my mother. She died this year. I know where she is, that she is with Jesus. She is getting to spend her first Christmas with the King of Kings and is the reason we even celebrate Christmas.

I know she is laughing in Heaven. I know she is smiling and full of joy. I can see her in my mind and I imagine she is very young and beautiful, and is rejoicing with her King. 

Jesus' Conversations with Women: The Water Jar

I have been thinking about the woman at the well that is found, in John 4. Mainly I have been thinking about her water jar. That water jar represented shame to her. The Bible says it was the sixth hour when Jesus sat down at the well. That would have been about noon. Then comes the woman to draw water.

Coming to the well at this time of the day would have been unusual. The job of drawing water was the job of a slave or women, and they would have done it earlier in the day when it was cooler, so this woman was coming to the well when she could avoid other people.

Her tone seemed a little sharp when she talked to Jesus, and we can tell that she was brave when speaking with Him. But she carried that shame because she avoided those who would shame her.

They have a conversation, she and Jesus, and discuss theological things. He offers her living water They discuss Jacob who built the well. His words tell her he knows her and what has happened to her in her life. And then they come to the most pivotal point.

Jesus tells her He is the Messiah. He reveals His true nature to her, and what He wants to do for her.

And she leaves her water jar.

She leaves the thing that is a representation of her shame. She lets it go, runs away, and tells other people about Him.

I believe, that when we all have a true encounter with the living Jesus, we will do the same. It will cause us to let go and leave our shame. We will leave all those things that have been holding us back, with Him, and we will run and tell others about Him.

He wanted her to come to know Him, That was His purpose in talking to her and still is His purpose with us.

The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.”

Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”

And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You talking with her?”

The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” Then they went out of the city and came to Him.-John 4:25-30 (NKJV) 

My prayer is that we would all continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of Him,

Beth