OK, y'all. I'm back on the bandwagon for good. Here goes five minutes when I'm compltetely honest, even if it doesn't sound great, and NOT hit the delete button afterwards.
Gypsy Mama
Around here we write for five minutes flat on Fridays.
We finger paint with words. We try to remember what it was like to just write without worrying if it’s just right or not.
Where your words are welcome, just as they are!
1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. Meet & encourage someone who linked up before you.
OK, are you ready? Give us your best five minutes on:
Brave
Maybe being brave isn't what I thought it was at first. Ive heard so many people saying that it's not courage if you don't do it afraid, I've heard stories of amazing people who've given all for something they believe in, and sometimes I'm tempted to look at my life and ask "Is this it?" A mousy sixteen year old girl trying love her God and others on top of trying to keep her head afloat in school and serve her family. No martyrdom for me, huh? I've been rereading A Voice in the Wind by Francine Rivers for the bazillionth time this week. Amazing story. If you haven't read it already, it takes place right before the decline of the Roman empire and centers around Hadassah, who's probably about sixteen or seventeen. Before she gets captured by Romans, she's quiet and shy and she can't understand why her father wants to go into the streets thst could so easily kill him to proclaim the Gospel. This girl makes me regret ever complainng about finals and speeches and friends. In one day she loses her mother and brother to Roman soldiers, her sister to starvation and her father to the mob. She's taken on a hellish march through Jerusalem to the heart of the Roman empire to be sold as a slave. She's sold to a Roman family as a maid for their young daughter, Julia, who is basically a selfish spoiled brat. The first two books relate her story and love affair with Marcus and the whole trilogy is chock full of stuff to think about and relate to and stuff it deep into your heart. It's one of those books that makes you glad when you look up and realize you aren't actually part of the story, but you just want to go back and back again to soak the truth up straight from the pages.
Sometimes I wished I lived in the pages of a book..any book. What woundn't I give to meet people who had seen Christ, to meet the giants in Scripture like Peter and John and anyone who had met or talked to or touched Jesus. What I woudn't do to have faith like hers or a man like him, tried and true and plain as day to everyone around her. Real life is so slow. It's harder to talk about Christ because we've never actually met him and there's no one who has. We have the Bible, but we know we're not supposed to bash people over the head with it, so we just don't talk. We turn our eyes from the ugliness going on and the people with them, and try to lose ourselves in worship with unbearable pain just in our backyard. I remember reading the series Diary of a Teenage Girl by Melody Carlson and wondering why everyone Caitlin knew became Christians within a year. I know I've had a conversation or two where I don't respond the way I should have and later played it in my head and kicked myself for not saying what any given character would in any given situation. Turns out, it's hard to imitate a character from a book. I constantly fall short and kick myself and try again,, only to begin another vicious cycle. I hear an amazing testimony or read this blog and try to match mine to it. There are going to be similarities in the truths we discover in the community, because it's Truth and something God himself wants to make clear. Like our beauty, our identity in Christ, our irrevocable salvation---we know all of that, but we need to be reminded and to remind others.
But still. It's amazing to me how I don't like who I am, even after all this time. Maybe I'm still not sure how to do this thing on my own. Maybe I'm still afraid to hear my own voice. I'm learning, but I'm still confused. I'm living but not always the way he wants. I'm terrified of college and the unknown and getting into what I shouldn't. But I'm still here and breathing and looking towards God and home and tomorrow. And all the while, I'm trying to learn to say let Your will be done. Because I think he's a heck of a lot more brave than I could ever be.
Gypsy Mama
Around here we write for five minutes flat on Fridays.
We finger paint with words. We try to remember what it was like to just write without worrying if it’s just right or not.
Where your words are welcome, just as they are!
1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. Meet & encourage someone who linked up before you.
OK, are you ready? Give us your best five minutes on:
Brave
Maybe being brave isn't what I thought it was at first. Ive heard so many people saying that it's not courage if you don't do it afraid, I've heard stories of amazing people who've given all for something they believe in, and sometimes I'm tempted to look at my life and ask "Is this it?" A mousy sixteen year old girl trying love her God and others on top of trying to keep her head afloat in school and serve her family. No martyrdom for me, huh? I've been rereading A Voice in the Wind by Francine Rivers for the bazillionth time this week. Amazing story. If you haven't read it already, it takes place right before the decline of the Roman empire and centers around Hadassah, who's probably about sixteen or seventeen. Before she gets captured by Romans, she's quiet and shy and she can't understand why her father wants to go into the streets thst could so easily kill him to proclaim the Gospel. This girl makes me regret ever complainng about finals and speeches and friends. In one day she loses her mother and brother to Roman soldiers, her sister to starvation and her father to the mob. She's taken on a hellish march through Jerusalem to the heart of the Roman empire to be sold as a slave. She's sold to a Roman family as a maid for their young daughter, Julia, who is basically a selfish spoiled brat. The first two books relate her story and love affair with Marcus and the whole trilogy is chock full of stuff to think about and relate to and stuff it deep into your heart. It's one of those books that makes you glad when you look up and realize you aren't actually part of the story, but you just want to go back and back again to soak the truth up straight from the pages.
Sometimes I wished I lived in the pages of a book..any book. What woundn't I give to meet people who had seen Christ, to meet the giants in Scripture like Peter and John and anyone who had met or talked to or touched Jesus. What I woudn't do to have faith like hers or a man like him, tried and true and plain as day to everyone around her. Real life is so slow. It's harder to talk about Christ because we've never actually met him and there's no one who has. We have the Bible, but we know we're not supposed to bash people over the head with it, so we just don't talk. We turn our eyes from the ugliness going on and the people with them, and try to lose ourselves in worship with unbearable pain just in our backyard. I remember reading the series Diary of a Teenage Girl by Melody Carlson and wondering why everyone Caitlin knew became Christians within a year. I know I've had a conversation or two where I don't respond the way I should have and later played it in my head and kicked myself for not saying what any given character would in any given situation. Turns out, it's hard to imitate a character from a book. I constantly fall short and kick myself and try again,, only to begin another vicious cycle. I hear an amazing testimony or read this blog and try to match mine to it. There are going to be similarities in the truths we discover in the community, because it's Truth and something God himself wants to make clear. Like our beauty, our identity in Christ, our irrevocable salvation---we know all of that, but we need to be reminded and to remind others.
But still. It's amazing to me how I don't like who I am, even after all this time. Maybe I'm still not sure how to do this thing on my own. Maybe I'm still afraid to hear my own voice. I'm learning, but I'm still confused. I'm living but not always the way he wants. I'm terrified of college and the unknown and getting into what I shouldn't. But I'm still here and breathing and looking towards God and home and tomorrow. And all the while, I'm trying to learn to say let Your will be done. Because I think he's a heck of a lot more brave than I could ever be.
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