Showing posts with label freewrite. Show all posts
Showing posts with label freewrite. Show all posts

Saturday, July 27, 2019

Five Minute Friday: Middle



Today I am participating in Five Minute Friday, where a group of writers get together and freewrite, with no editing, about a one word prompt for 5 minutes.  Today's word is  "middle."



Here I am stuck in the middle with you…


That’s part of some song lyrics. I don’t remember which one. But it just popped into my head with this week’s prompt, “middle.”

So, here I am stuck in the middle of my story, with Jesus. I bet you are there too.

That’s a good place to be, in the middle. It means you are not at the beginning, and not at the end.

Sometimes it feels uncomfortable being in the middle. Like, if you are in the middle of a row at church, or a concert, or a ball game of some type.

Or if you are in the middle seat of an airplane or a car.

But to be in the middle of your story with Jesus is a good place to be. It might seem like it is a little uncomfortable, like in those other places above. But if you are in the middle, you are not at the beginning. That’s good in a way because it means you know some things. You have experienced some things.

And it is good that you are not at the end. It means you are not finished yet.

So, what does it mean to be in the middle? It means you are still learning. But it also means you should be teaching somebody else.

Here in the middle, Jesus is still teaching you. He is still speaking to you, whispering to your heart, and you are still learning. He is still a good teacher. He is the same with you as He was in the Gospels. He speaks to us now by His Spirit, by the Holy Spirit.

What you hear Him whisper, you need to speak to another human. As a disciple, you are also a teacher. Don’t wait until you think you have “arrived.”

In fact, teaching somebody else, can push you forward.

Being in the middle with Jesus is a good place to be.




*I looked up the song lyrics. Stuck in the Middle is a song written by Gerry Rafferty and Joe Egan and orginally performed by their band Stealers Wheel.

Friday, January 12, 2018

Simplify: Five Minute Friday






Today I am participating in Five Minute Friday where we freewrite for five minutes flat on the prompt, Simplify.

Simplify.  Ahhhh.  One of my favorite words.  It was actually my word about 7 years ago.  It started a string of words that just seemed to blend all together.  But I believe “simplify” or “simplicity” was the first.

I became very interested in minimalism a few years after that. Minimalism is the art of simplicity.  It is reducing the amount of clutter and making room for the important.  That is a practice I have tried to implement in my own life.

For Believers I believe simplifying is incredibly important. In Mark 4, in the Parable of the Sower, Jesus talks about the different type of ground seed is sown on.  Later he explains the parable to His disciples.  

The third type of ground is where the cares of this life and things of this world come in and choke the word, causing it to be unfruitful.  What does that mean?  I believe it means that when we are so consumed with worry about anything, or when we are bombarded with an endless amount of things to do, and stuff to care for, the Word can have no place in our lives.  It has no room to grow and produce fruit.

The good news is that this is something we can change, simply by simplifying.  We can simplify our thoughts.  We can simplify our consumption.  We can make room for God’s Word and it will produce in our lives.