February 26, 2015

Slow Down... Let's VISIT - A Five Minute Friday Post



It seems Thursday nights can't get here soon enough some weeks!  

I love the #fmfparty Community that gathers on Twitter and all across the Inter Webs on Thursday nights and on Fridays... on into the next week, where we encourage and uplift... where we share prayer requests and praise reports... where we talk food and friends and we find support and kindred hearts and we are reminded that life is good and God is good and we are not alone... and then we all write for five minutes flat, a flash mob of wordsmiths letting our hearts and our fingers do the talking tapping and we hit publish before we can second guess... we just let Him flow! 

Here is our Word Prompt for the day: VISIT

{GO}

To Visit...


To connect, on purpose... to set aside time and space to invest, and spend wisely this currency of time.  

Yes. This.   This is what we long for when we long for Community.  It's not just the not being alone. No, it's also the intentionally being together!

My Honey and I... we do this. We are wired for relationship and we place a high value on valuing others. We host a Home Group on Wednesday evenings again and filling this house with friends for the purpose of visiting --with each other, and with God... this is our Jam!

Week after week, we set an atmosphere and set aside time to fill these walls and make room for a little visiting, in hopes of a Visitation!

Last night, our girlie texted, wanting to stop by. I told her to come on over. Our group was winding down and she would not be interrupting. (As if, ever!) 

Still - she responded:
"What does Winding Down mean in Aggett time?"

Yeah. She knows us... 

But she is wired this way too and rather than going home to an empty house, she came over and snuggled under blankets and cuddled on the couch and we enjoyed a visit... in fact, her visit extended overnight and I got to wake up with her just down the hall, like the old days when she still called this place her home.  Sophie Hudson is right. Sometimes home really is where your people are!



We got to spend the morning together getting ready for our day, visiting the whole time. It was that blissful mix of chattiness and quiet.  The romantic rhythm of grace in motion... of reconnecting and talking about nothing, and everything, at the same time!

Once she was gone, I quickly moved on with the weekly visit with a friend as we walked and talked and drank in beauty...



Then this afternoon, with a long list of things I had planned to do, once again the Lord beckoned me to a sunny spot on the floor, with an open Bible and a prayer... 


When He says our name and sings over us with Love and lovingly asks us to stop by for a visit, how can we deny His Father Heart?  And when, on our own, we call out to Him just to catch up and spend a little time together... oh my how that blesses Him!

We all need a taste of Home... we all need to be reminded that we are welcome... that there is always time to catch up, to cuddle up, to be reminded that we are loved! We all hunger and thirst for a little visit, and just maybe a Visitation, too!

{STOP}

I have been focusing on 'better' time management this year, and it's been going great! Right in the middle of nailing it, in the past few weeks, I am hearing Him call to me to come away with Him. It turns out even in my efficiency, I am not the boss of me after all! 



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 "VISIT"


Oh ...the fine print: if you don't know what FMF is!  Five Minute Fridays have been hosted by Lisa Jo Baker.  This week we start gathering over at Kate Motaung's.  FMF 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!

I am also linking up with the Community over at:












How about you?  How long has it been since you have visited 'home'? Can I encourage you to just sit with Him... catch up... cuddle up...  and remember that you are loved?

38 comments :

  1. Oh love this! I love having people over to my place and I don't do it nearly enough. And when God visits, yes indeed we must beckon to his call. Reminds me of a camp skit where a couple get a call from God saying he is coming to visit. They frantically clean their house. In the midst of their cleaning the doorbell keeps ringing; a hungry man, etc. They keep shoeing them away. God calls and tells them he has already been there (in the people they shoed away) We cannot miss God calling us! And that last paragraph in this post, pure gold, my friend, pure gold!!

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    1. LOL... the paragraph about time management? Yeah. That. ;)

      Thanks so much for stopping by, friend! Have a great weekend!
      We'll Vox soon!

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  2. I love how God makes everyone so differently! I need people like you who remind me that there's a little more to life than what's going on in my own head. People like you remind me that God just enjoys hanging out with me, and I need that. Love you!

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    1. Oh sweet friend... I love you, too! We will head your way maybe early summer and we'll have to try to meet face to face! xoxo

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  3. Yes...we must allow time in our busy lives to let God in! Without His presence, I feel lonely and am in constant need. With acknowledging His eternal presence my life has been so much more satisfying...Praise God. :) Your article touches on what really matters...great post Karrilee!

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    1. I love that connection, Verona - with being without His presence, we feel lonely! It's so true!!! Thanks so much for stopping by!

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  4. Hi there, Karrilee! How special that your girl got to come over and spend the night! I loved hearing about your Wednesday night group too. We have one on thursdays! Love that time to visit with friends and expect a Visitation from him. Glad to see you at #fmfparty!

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    1. I am quite spoiled that she still lives so close! Nornally if she stops by - and even falls asleep - she still gets in her car and heads home so it was a real treat to wake up with her still 'home'! Thanks so much for stopping by Betsy! Have a great weekend!

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  5. Anonymous5:25 AM

    The real beauty of visits. Love it!

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    1. It really is Beauty... may we not forget that... or belittle it... or discount how much it matters!
      Thanks for hanging out in my little corner here!

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  6. In the past I was always relunctant to let others just stop by to visit. Each visit had to be planned at least days in advance because I wanted to make sure I was able to clean and put everything in it's place. Over the last year or so I have learned that most people were coming to see me (or my family) not my house so I have been able to open a little more. My thought towards Christ have also made a similiar change. I thought I had to 'clean' things up before I could visit with Him but now I know it is impossible to clean without spending time with Him.

    Love ya and I am so thankful for the time we visit here, on SM and via Voxer but I can't wait to spend time visiting face to face.

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    1. Oh yes, the dreaded Drop In that our culture no longer embraces!!! So much yes to remembering and reminding oursevles that what we have to offer has little to nothing to do with the status of our homes... but the openness of our hearts! Love you, friend! (And yes and amen to inrl, face to face!)

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  7. Beautiful words, Karrilee!! Love that your daughter "stopped by" and ended up staying overnight!

    I miss the impromptu visits to my daughters; most of them are planned "MeMaw" times for babysitting or joining them for an outing...which, don't get me wrong, I LOVE!!!

    I miss the friends visits to my home; it's just not as open as I would have it be - with my hubby and his dementia and hearing and we just don't have many "couple" friends. A few from his high school days, but they have their lives and we visit once a month at a restaurant for breakfast...still, it IS a visit.

    Thanks for sharing!!

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    1. Oh friend - a visit is a visit and it all counts!!! Thanks so much for stopping by! (And for reminding me to be thankful for the impromptu visits for I know seasons change... and zip codes too... and it may not always be so easy!

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  8. Aw, this is beautiful! I could use a visit from my daughters about now ;). But yes, where two or there are gathered in God's name, beautiful things happen.

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    1. Amen... I love that it is 'two or three' because there are ALWAYS Two or Three when He shows up! ;)

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  9. "It turns out even in my efficiency, I am not the boss of me after all!" Amen! I think our desire to be the bosses of ourselves is one of the main things that leads us into temptation.

    I really enjoyed this post. Thanks for sharing it!

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    1. Thanks so much Melissa! You are so right... and I am so thankful (most of the time!) that I am not the boss of me!

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  10. Yahoo, I think I'm getting the hang of it. Very cool to get to read your blog

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    1. Yay Sue... you ARE getting the hang of it! Thanks so much for subscribing, friend!

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  11. Ah, I love how you say that you and your hubby are wired for relationship. We've hosted a life group in our home for years...until this past fall. The fall and spring "semesters" if you will have been kind of hard - not having people over to connect with. But our schedules changed up a bit and they moved our high school youth program to Sunday nights. I help with that. Jonathon helps with middle school so he does Wednesday nights. Sundays were our life group nights. :( We miss it so much that we decided to get back on our normal schedule next year. Our youth minister is playing with the idea of moving high school back to Wednesdays with the middle schoolers, but regardless, I am going to continue doing some youth events and teaching Sunday school...but we're getting that life group back.
    Wow, was that a run-on paragraph or what?
    I guess my whole point was, "honey, I can relate!" ;)

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    1. LOL! I feel ya, Jennifer! We went for years without hosting a group together in our home! I would host a few during the day during the week, but we went a long time without doing a co-ed group together and we really are wired for it - so it is so nice to be back! We are called together, so ministering together is natural and helps each of us grow in our giftings! Love you so! I am still working on nailing down my flights, but we will talk soon of Jumping Tandem and timeframes and roomie details! :) Let the countdown begin! xoxo

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  12. This is so sweet. Sounds like my kind of group. I like how your daughter said what does that mean in Aggett time? Hilarious! My brother in law likes to refer to his wife's attempts to leave of a party as "the 3 hour goodbye tour". I can relate.

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    1. Yeah... we sort of run on our own time... which may be why I am Time Zone challenged! ;) The 3hour goodbye tour... yeah, I'm familiar with that one!

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  13. "This is what we long for when we long for when we long for community." -- YES! YES!

    I was just talking to Pendragon last night about longing for community and I think it's the visiting that is the reason I long for it. I'm a bit isolated where I live. It's not that we're in the middle of nowhere but that my tribe is everywhere but here and all the people who are here are not the kind of like-minded individuals with whom I feel at ease being my authentic self. I'm glad I have a community online, but again, it's not the same as being there in person. I've been longing for a group of folks to plug into where I can feel accepted and loved and who I can love on and share the things of life with. Perhaps one day I'll find it!

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    1. Oh friend... can I just say - we went for a long spell without our tribe... we had a season where we didn't fit and we couldn't find our people - or the our people were close by and busy doing what they were called to be doing at that time and it was a lonely quiet season. I am praying for you... I know for me in that season, I was OH SO thankful for the internet - I found my tribe here for sure! But I believe that there is always a remnant, my friend! Praying He draws them out and connects you in real life as well as here online!

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  14. Your love of community radiates. I always enjoy my "visits" with you. Thanks for letting His love flow through you to touch others. Visiting from FMF. Blessings.

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    1. And I always enjoy 'visits' with you as well, friend! Thanks so much for stopping by!

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  15. Thanks, Karrilee! I think we can be friends!!
    Your joy for friends, community, sharing Jesus and visiting...waiting on The Visitation of the Spirit are clear here. Blessings of GREAT JOY on your amazing adventure journey with Jesus!!
    Lisa

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    1. Thanks so much Lisa! You are welcome here anytime, my friend!

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  16. I love this! You caught it perfectly.

    http://blessed-are-the-pure-of-heart.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-hard-kind-of-love.html

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  17. Isn't it nice to have friends who just know who you are. I'm love the way you put this piece together. I missed FMFriday and didn't have time to read anyones so I'm glad I found yours. :)

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    1. I'm glad you found mine, too! You were missed on FMF... and yes and amen - it is really a blessing and a gift to have friends who just 'get' you! Sometimes I forget to not take that for granted!

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  18. I love that you value relationship so much in this post - your husband, your house-full, your girlie and your friends. It's upbeat and focused on what God created us for - community and relationships. Thank you for this!

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Thanks so much for stopping by! I always love to hear your thoughts! Remember to: Speak Life - Be Love - Shine On!
~Karrilee~

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