5 Minute Friday ~ Opportunity

Joining up, today, with Lisa-Jo over at Gypsy Mama for 5 Minute Friday ~

"Around here we write for five minutes flat on Fridays.

We write because we love words and the relief it is to just write them without worrying if they’re just right or not. So we take five minutes on Friday and write like we used to run when we were kids.

On Fridays we write with gusto, unselfconscious and flat out.

What can you write in five minutes flat?

 

1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. Seriously. That is, like, the rule. And the fun. And the heart of this community.

OK, are you ready? Give me your best five minutes on..."

Opportunity…

...Go!

My big girl turns 15 today.

Wow! Hold on just a sec while I pause and catch my breath...

When and how did THAT happen?

Do you remember when you turned 15?

I do... and yet... I don't.

I'd begun my sophmore year of high school... and there was this guy I kinda liked, but he'd be graduating and heading off to an academy a long ways away.

My mom was the person who most drove me crazy - and yet? I so wanted her to be proud of me. I longed to make her and Daddy proud.

I thought I had the coolest Nana and Pop Pop in the whole world and I loved summer vacation when we'd visit their small town home.

At church, I had the "funnest," coolest youth group leaders in the world - Mr. and Mrs. C!

I'd moved into a new age group for swim competitions and I wondered if I'd be any good. I finally decided to quit competing in gymnastics, too - upon the recommendation of my coaches - so I could truly focus on one sport.

I was working as a swim instructor and a lifeguard at two different pools in town; that year I reluctantly began supervising when the Association of Retarded Citizens would come to the pool each week.

I would be learning to drive.

I loved my NASB - and was starting to really fall in love with God's Word. I remember "discovering..."

Thus saith the LORD, "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things," declares the LORD.

 ...wishing I had some sort of rule book

that told me just how to live like that,
and?

Over the years, I've come to find out that I did, all along.

I never felt particularly pretty and certainly wasn't "popular," but I was pretty comfortable as a scholar and an athlete.

I still had to go to school over at the old Sooner high school since the powers that were then had decided to combine the town's two high schools. I went to school with some pretty uppitty, well-to-do kids. I guess, in many senses, I was one of them, but I never felt that way. I road the bus (well, when I did) mostly with kids from the other side of the tracks. Those were the kids I actually thought were really cool and who had interesting lives... yet I was shy, not much of a conversationalist... and so I existed on the periphery of what I'd sorta call my circle of friends.

I didn't know how to walk as a confident Christ follower in that world, even though I wanted to.

That was me, when I turned 15.

Sometimes I think I know... other times I wonder if I have any clue... just who my now 15 year old is and who she wants to become... who the Lord wants her to be.

I particularly wonder if she sees all that beauty inside becoming, if she really has a clue of what all life is in front of her...???

... so many possibilities...

...so much opportunity...

all bundled into our beautiful "Baby ekah baby ekah baby!"

Happy 15th birthday, Rebekah Joy!

...Stop!

(Writing? 5 minutes. Adding all the pictures? Well... since internet in Niger has been moving like mud the past few days? Significantly longer. But she's worth it! :-)