Five Minute Friday: Rhythm

And this is what I’ve been doing for five months now, though some Thursday/Fridays it seems like I’ve been doing it for SO much longer. And sometimes it feels like I just started. Connect with a bunch of amazing, faith-filled women through Lisa-Jo’s site. Wait for the prompt at midnight (or nine pm for the lucky west coasters who don’t have to wait up as late). Write for five minutes flat. Don’t over think. Don’t over edit. Post it. Link it. Share it. Visit the writer ahead of you – share the encouragement, share the love. Come back and do it again next week.

This Week: Rhythm

Go

I’m writing out another schedule. Another tool in the parenting toolbox - that thing we use to get from point A to point B without losing our minds. And it’s a little more effective these days because she likes all the colors and the bullet points I squeeze into the days – filling up the summer hours with swimming and reading; mixing in a healthy dose of cleaning her room; keeping in mind that we’ve promised to stay on track (again) this summer with academics – so writing and math and history make their way into the mix. I print it out and look at it and think – ugh – this looks like so much.

I think of my own schedule up with the light of morning – extra time because I move more slowly these days – getting ready, getting dressed, making my way down into the basement of the building that has become way more comfortable than I ever imagined it would be; doing a job that I love and had never imagined doing – loving that it’s freed my creative heart and mind and given me time to squeeze in my writing – but always moving forward, always moving.

I’d rather be standing in a boundless field of wild flowers under a summer sky bleached to the color of faded denim. Or curled under the spreading limbs of an enormous oak – letting the sunlight shimmer through the leaves and dapple my skin while I lay on a large blanket surrounded by a pile of books.

That’s the rhythm I crave.

That’s thrum I’d love to move to.

There’s a happy medium in here. I know there is; between scheduling the life out of my life and drifting in unscheduled anonymity with no purpose. The secret to this brand of bliss is deciding just what pulse I’m going to pace my life to. What heartbeat am I going to mimic with the best of my intentions?

If you love me, show it by doing what I’ve told you. I will talk to the Father, and he’ll provide you another Friend so that you will always have someone with you. This Friend is the Spirit of Truth. The godless world can’t take him in because it doesn’t have eyes to see him, doesn’t know what to look for. But you know him already because he has been staying with you, and will even be in you! The person who knows my commandments and keeps them, that’s who loves me. And the person who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and make myself plain to him. John 14: 15-17, 21 (MSG)

This is my heart. This is my image to reflect. This is the rhythm to set my life’s beat to.

Stop

I’m so blessed to have found this community of women online. It started a friend recommended Ann Voskamp’s book, 1000 Gifts. That led me to (in)courage and Allume, and before I knew it, I was joining the online community of grace and goodness that has enhanced my life in ways that I never saw coming. I never imaged that relationships made in the virtual world would echo and resonate with such sincerity, such authenticity, with so much real life goodness. It’s not all about writing – though I love that I’ve found a writing community here. So if you’re a woman of faith and hungry for community and like-minded sisters of the spirit, I hope you’ll stop by one of these sites and discover the wonderfulness that awaits you.