Five Minute Friday - Opportunity

It is our FIRST Friday of the New Year... and that gloriously means the return of Five Minute Fridays with Lisa-Jo Baker and the crazy-fun, incredibly anointed writing Community that gathers on Twitter for #FMFParty - connecting and encouraging, sipping tea and coffee (and yes, Nutella Hot Chocolate!) and waiting together for the prompt to be posted!  Oh my - it was so good to be back... and to get to call myself a part of this amazing group of bloggers is a joy and an honor!  You are invited to come and be a part as well!

Five Minute Fridays are hosted by Lisa Jo Baker.  It is open to anyone, so to learn more about it - and to jump in yourself (the more the merrier!) or just to find a linky to see what everyone is writing about today - click HERE!  The idea is to simply write... for Five Minutes flat... no editing, no deep thinking - or at least REthinking, no spell check - just write! Let it flow! We all write using a prompt that Lisa posts at one minute past midnight Friday morning (EST.)  I'm loving the community of amazing bloggers and the creativity that flows from these magical Five Minutes!

So - here goes:
Five Minute Friday - OPPORTUNITY

{GO}
I spotted it the other day... a simple "Like" on facebook that a friend shared... this simple hand-drawn picture and in all it's simplicity - the neon lights went off in my head and the word flashing all around my heart was: "Opportunity!"

The sketched-out and all-colored-in picture is titled, "How to Build Community" and the suggestions that follow are DRIPPING with opportunity!

Community... that has been a key word, a key desire, a key call on my life for the past several years.  Jesus called me to Be Love last year.  I wrote a little about how my Mama's heart was broken... for my own, and even now - for so many others! She... they... searching for identity, searching for purpose, so in need of Community! In this techny-texting-snapchat-instagram world we live in, where everyone is communicating but no one seems to be connecting, we must look for opportunity to slow down and really listen.  To speak life and be love and pour into those around us.  It starts first in the home, with your spouse and your kids, and moves outward to other family members and friends, but if we do it... if we REALLY do it - before we know it. We will have Community!  It takes simple small purposeful steps - but OH how I encourage you to take them!

"Turn off your TV"

"Know your neighbors"

"Look up when you are walking"

"Honor Elders"

"Have Potlucks"

"Read stories aloud"

"Ask a Question"

"Organize a Block Party"

"Ask for help when you need it"

Some of us will have to be Bold... leave our comfort zones... but, as Judah Smith preached at Passion the other day, we are CALLED into Community!  Jesus Himself is Community - three in one... He came to build something... and we are His Living Stones!

{STOP}

Opportunities are all around us to Be Love, Be Life, Be Jesus with skin on... I remember going out on a Treasure Hunt before the holidays. I had prayed, gotten my clues... then went looking for God's Treasures, and was not able to find ONE from my list.  As I was sort of murmuring to the Lord about it, He reminded me of specific people with whom I had made eye contact, or smiled at, or offered to help get something on a top shelf... You see, I am not bold in real life... it takes a lot for me to approach a stranger and start a conversation but the Lord reminded me that it is connection that people are hungry for and while they may not have matched up to my treasure map, they were most definitely on His and the thought came that "whatever we do unto the least of these... "

The sign (which I have now printed out and hung in plain sight) ends with: "Know that no one is silent, though many are not heard.  Work to change this"

Five Minute Fridays does just that... click here to read, and then find your voice and join the community!


I'd love to hear what things stood out to you in the picture above... pick one or two and be purposeful this weekend in putting them to use! Take the OPPORTUNITY to create and encourage Community all around you!

~Karrilee~