Five Minute Friday ~ Graceful

I love Fridays! Not only does it signify the end of a week, a couple of days with a more laid back schedule, the promise of a more-or-less day to rest... it also means it's time for another 5MF free write. So once again... I'm joining up with Lisa-Jo @ Gypsy Mama ~

"Got writer’s block? We’ve got the cure - Five Minute Friday!

Where a beautiful crowd spends five minutes all writing on the same topic and then sharing ‘em over here.

Now, set your timer, clear your head, for five minutes of free writing without worrying about getting it right.

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..

Oh and Ahem, if you would take pity and turn off comment verification, it would make leaving some love on your post that much easier for folks!

OK, are you ready? Please give us your best five minutes on..."

Graceful…

When I see a quote that really resonates, I'll make note of it, often even writing it down and tucking it away in my Bible. This?

“Eagles: When they walk, they stumble. They are not what one would call graceful. They were not designed to walk. They fly. And when they fly, oh, how they fly, so free, so graceful. They see from the sky what we never see.”

-Unknown

Definitely one of those better-write-it-down-and-keep-it quotes!

Photo found @  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Eagle

I long to disciple this little tribe of eight that God has given in this truth: As long as we strive to be something God did not make us to be, in our strength and power, we'll look and feel awkward and clumsy. Just like the eagle trying to walk... On the other hand, when we live and do and be according to His design, when our hope is in Him instead of ourselves, just like the eagle, He gives us wings, allowing us to soar.

At least that's what God's Word tells me...

from Isaiah 40

This is one of those instances where God's wisdom makes sense ('cause sometimes it doesn't, at least not to me). Revealed in nature; confirmed in God's Word. It resonates and rings true. It is easy to understand... Yet it is so hard to live and do.

It is hard to soar graceful when others expect us to plod along, to be like them, to accept their ideas of reality - right and wrong... to think that maybe their carefully diagrammed easy-to-read charts and plans for me are better than those shadowy glimpses that remain after the Lord flashes bright but brief illumination on His seemingly contrary to common sense path.

This mama could easily do that to her children.

So I will continue to pray, "Lord help me to help them learn to hope in you, to discern which desires are from the flesh and which are deep yearnings that come from You. You've created within them longings, expressions of the giftings You've given, which beg to be... need to be... first revealed, lived and then shared with others. Give me contentment in seeing them rise graceful and soar on Your currents, full of anticipation and life, strong and sure - even when that future might not be the future I or their daddy had imagined. And in the helping to help them, will You write that same truth on my heart and give me courage to then live it daily? Fill each one of us, in this way, with the completeness of Your the grace that only You can give."