Close to the Surface... Five Minute Friday

After a little Breaky (kind of) last week, I was all revved up and ready for a good party over on Twitter! I was missing my Community and ready to sit down, to chat it up (or type it out - same thing, really!) and catch up... but Tweetchat is being a little moody tonight and I am still trying to edit and memorize a piece for tomorrow night.  Still, you know me. I just can't stay away from this Free-Writing-Just-Let-It-Flow routine! So... I am in and out of Twitter tonight, missing you all... but taking just Five Minutes to STOP all the crazy multi-tasking and focus... just focus...

Oh but - first - the fine print: if you don't know what FMF is!  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 10pm Thursday night (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 - The Word Prompt is: CLOSE

{GO}

So - around these parts, we love to talk of Benches and Community and Fully Investing in Friendship.  We like to talk about the Power of Encouragement, of Speaking Life, Being Love, and Shining On.

We talk about it... but first, hopefully - always - we determine to Live it out loud!

To carve out time and coffee dates and find ourselves benches in the shade and sometimes benches in the sun, too... to sit side by side, talk heart to heart... to rejoice with those who are rejoicing and weep with those who are weeping.

This is my heart... this is our call.  This is the thought that hovers so close to the surface all week long... this mingling of rejoicing and weeping... intermixed and flowing in one deep inhale, followed by one shaky exhale.

You see, this is the week that we have known is coming, we just didn't know when.  Our Nearly Grown All Growed Up Girlie signed lease papers and is packing up her closet (for the first time, ever)... driving away, car load by car load, building a new home and it is good! Oh - it is good! It is time... and yet, still... 

Still it is not easy... but it is good! 

She got the call of confirmation, saying yes - she and her girlfriends got the house and her first response was a shaky exhale, followed by tears... and a coming in close... a little weeping and rejoicing all mixed in.  It's the letting go so as not to tear apart and it's hard work, ya'll - but it is worth it! 

So - all week long, I have been reminded of our benches -of all the places we have made ourselves at home together and talked real... talked deep... talked truth.  

We have instilled in her the Power of Encouragement and a thirst for Community and just when I battle flashbacks of pumping toddler legs, swinging high, dreaming free... I remember...

HE reminds me...

...she is pumping and flying and dreaming still... and it is time. And it is good.

{STOP}

Seriously... together, we have learned the unforced rhythms of grace, and it is good! Just when I battle fear, I hear her talking with her new roommates and they are agreeing that they will need to set aside 'family time' for sit down dinners and just hanging out together. 

("...and it is good!" followed by my own shaky exhale!)



Five Minute Fridays gives us the chance to dive right in and share what He puts on our hearts! Click here to read what others have to say about "CLOSE"  

I am also linking up for "The Power of Encouragement" over at Incourage.me