When You Need Permission to Enjoy Your One Life... a Five Minute Friday Post.

I actually remembered that it was Thursday last night... and managed to pop my head in to the twitter party for just a few but finding a bossy rhythm back in to writing has proven tricky this year after pouring out during #Write31Days in October.  (I am sure adding the election drama to it hasn't helped!) Instead... I have given myself permission to practice Sabbath and to --well, let's move on to what our prompt is today because I've been giving myself permission to do just that!

This is Five Minute Friday (- a five minute timed free write) and our One Word Prompt is: ENJOY

{GO}

Wow.  Still, right? 

That is still my reaction to all that is going on in our world right now.

I'm at peace... even when I'm not loving what is happening. 

I mean, what breaks His heart is supposed to be what breaks ours too, right? I think He is less concerned with who won the election than He is with how we are letting Love shine.  

This begs the question, "How ARE we letting His Love shine?"

Life is heavy and hard and it just keeps coming straight for us head on and the fast-paced, no-holds-barred chaos can steal your breath and your sleep and your sanity --if you let it! (So don't you let it!)

In the midst of the darkness, the Lord whispered this to my aching heart:

I know.  I know what is happening and I hate it too. But hate never wins in the end... it's Love. It's still Love and it always will be Love.

So just breathe... breathe in deep and exhale slow and remember this:

"After looking at the way things are on this earth, here’s what I’ve decided is the best way to live: Take care of yourself, have a good time, and make the most of whatever job you have for as long as God gives you life. And that’s about it. That’s the human lot. Yes, we should make the most of what God gives, both the bounty and the capacity to enjoy it, accepting what’s given and delighting in the work. It’s God’s gift! God deals out joy in the present, the now. It’s useless to brood over how long we might live." Ecclesiastes 5:18-20 The Message

So there you go! 

Just in case you are in need of permission to enjoy your one life right now - even with everything so spinning and (seemingly) out of control! 

There it is... right there in the Word of God!

You have been given --gifted, really-- this one life and God actually came so you could have life abundantly.  

He actually wants you to enjoy life... For you must enjoy it in order to tap into the joy that enables you to give it... to give joy and give love and give hope-- to give LIFE away.

That is our call... but we cannot give what we do not have.

Don't give in to the thinking that there is no room for joy or to enjoy life because in this heaviness, there are burdens to carry. 

Oh, there are.  But they are not OURS to carry... we are called to give them over to Him. 

And we know He is well able to carry any and all heaviness because He carried the weight of the sin of the world on His shoulders and He nailed it all to the Cross... ALL of it! And He rose up in JOY and Victory... (as did we, my friends!)

So in the middle of all of this chaos, God gives us calm and He encourages us to enjoy this life He has purchased and given to us. 

If you need permission to engage in self-care, in having fun, and in working hard... well - here it is! Solomon, who was gifted Wisdom from heaven, gives us the freedom to enjoy life in the book of Ecclesiastes.

We know we will have what we look for... if we seek, we will find.  We also know that we affect the atmosphere and we are contagious --for better or worse! So let's make it for better, shall we?

You've been granted permission, so now - Go DO it! 

{STOP}

Enjoy your one life --fill up on His goodness and grace, so you can give it away!

There is a season to weep with those who weep -and our hearts should break for what breaks His... but let's not lose hope and let's not forget that we --that this world-- has been redeemed! 

I am reading Ann Voskamps' newest book, The Broken Way, right now and in it she writes this: "Live every day like you're terminal. Because you are. Live every day like your soul's eternal. Because it is."

None of us are guaranteed tomorrow... but we who know Him are guaranteed a future. 

Let's live like we know Our Redeemer Lives and He is still at work... still on the Throne... still working ALL THINGS together for our good... still inviting us to fill to capacity the ability to enjoy the life He is unfurling in front of us --for however long it unfurls.  Let's be contagious in all the best ways, for the King and for His Kingdom!

Linking up with Kate Motaung and the #fmfparty Community today.  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: "ENJOY"

The FMF lowdown: The gathering happens on Twitter on Thursday nights & then we write our hearts out & hit publish all over the interwebs on Thursday & Friday (& sometimes on Tuesdays!) It's where we encourage & uplift... where we share prayer requests & praise reports... where we talk food & friends & we find support & kindred hearts. It's where we are reminded that life is good & God is good & we're not alone... & then we all write for five minutes flat, a flash mob of wordsmiths letting our hearts & our fingers do the talking tapping & we hit publish before we can second guess it all away. We'd love to have you join us!

I'm also linking up with the lovely writer community linked below:

#FreshMarketFriday...

(These photographs were taken on our trip to the Oregon Coast at the beginning of October... a long overdue trip that we thoroughly ENJOYED! Ya see what I did there?)