I can hardly stand it. #fmfparty. I made it. It has been a frighteningly long time since I parked it here – however briefly – with this lovely group of friends and writers. I thought for a second that I’d feel like a stranger. No chance. I just felt like I’d come home.For months and months I wrote faithfully – a Friday prompt on Thursday night. Then it happened. Life. Schedules. School. Summer. Camp. Health. The shipwreck that can be my life. And my words have fallen quiet. Still present, but not published.
But I made it back. I will always make it back.
So I come again to the prompt and to one of my favorite communities of writers and friends. This blessed, beautiful place where we open our hearts and let words and tears and the inner workings of our lives bleed and flow and dance across the virtual pages. Yes, this community opens wide and invites you in to share. Come and visit and read. You will be blessed.
This week: Yes
Go
All I can think of this second is that I said, “yes,” the moment I saw her text: “will you pray …”
It could never be anything other than a yes when prayer is the question, but this request came from a friend who is close to my heart. From a friendship that grew (in a roundabout fashion) out of this very community that I write with tonight.
We saw each other in similar circles online. Shared the leadership of an (in)courage art group. And then we began to discover the more. The other moments of, “you too – I thought it was just me.” Those times when you discover that your shared “yeses” pave the way to a friendship that feels like it’s been going on for years, when truthfully, it’s probably honestly counted in months.
Yes, we’re both knitters (one of us – not me – far better than the other)
Yes, we love Pentatonix and Lindsey Sterling.
Yes, we both love books and words and the ontology of language that defines.
Yes, we are grace-seekers and kingdom builders – in our own small, one-at-a-time way.
Yes, we both have an addiction to pens and notebooks.
Yes, we love fair trade and sustainability.
Yes, we love Jesus.
Along the way, questions have been asked where “yes” was the answer:
Will you be my friend on Facebook?
Will you (please already) get on Voxer so I can hear your voice?
Will you read this book with me in a Voxer bookclub?
Will you let me share the hurting, broken, vulnerable parts of me – will you let me be honest?
Will you please try not to be completely freaked out by my honesty and stick with me?
Yes. Simply and surely yes.
So tonight, as my phone was pinging with Twitter updates from the #fmfparty and I heard the familiar ring of Voxer and saw her text, “will you pray …” it was an immediate yes. An on-my-knees on-my-face before the Lord of Hosts – yes in prayer and supplication and standing in the gap and breathing into the small things that feel so huge. The yes of asking and thanking him in advance for his answers and his promises. The yes of remembering how I felt when I’d been in similar situations. And the yes of not saying amen but keeping those prayers echoing under my breath as I move about the rest of my evening.
God gives us community. God gives us friendship. God gives us grace. God gives us lives we can pour out of and lives we can pour in to. And all we need to do is say yes.
I write tonight for my dear friend Sarah Jo. Because she’s amazing. And because we continue to say yes to each other. If you have a moment – would you lift her up tonight – and her family too? I would love for you to say yes.
How to Join
Want to know about Kate Motaung, how Five Minute Friday got started, and how to participate? All the details are here. No editing or second guessing. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to visit the person who linked up before you and encourage them in their comments. Seriously. That is the rule. And the fun. And the heart of this community.
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