Come write brave with us. <–Click to Tweet this
This is where a brave and beautiful bunch gather every week to find out what comes out when we all spend five minutes writing on the same topic and then sharing ’em over here.
And I can’t stop watching this video. This new one from Sara Bareilles – an anthem to the brave girls, the beloved daughters, the minivan driving moms that they will grow up to be. Have you seen it yet? It’s in my head on repeat along with my own anthem to the brave mothers that I shared yesterday.
How to Join:
Want to know how Five Minute Friday got started and how to participate? All the details are here.
Featured Five Minute Friday:
And every week I’ll pick a post that caught my eye and share it down there in my side bar – see where it says “Featured #FiveMinuteFriday”? Yea -that could be you! Hop on over and visit some folk who make fireworks in just five minutes. They inspire me.
Meet the #FMFParty Writers:
And did you know there’s a whole community of writers that connect online before the prompt goes live on Friday nights? They use the Twitter hashtag #FMFParty and are about the most encouraging group around.
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:::
Brave…
GO
I roll the word around with my tongue. Such a short word. A challenge. An anthem. Sometimes it looks like elementary school girls stepping across the email lines of whose BFF is whose and simply offering a hand and maybe a bottle of bright blue nail polish. Sometimes it’s a mom making plans to meet up with women she doesn’t know because what she does know is that she needs friends. And friends are more likely to materialize when we walk over to their table and introduce ourselves than when we worry at home.
Sometimes brave is the five-year-old standing up to his big brother’s friends on behalf of someone else. Sometimes it’s a baby girl going downstairs without holding your hand. Some days brave is the mom with the tired eyes getting back up again, making another snack, comforting another fear, going to the parent-teacher conference she dreads.
Brave can be bungee jumping in South Africa, hitting publish on a blog post or simply showing up. Stepping out from the shadows, and saying hello. Brave can be young or old, married or single, lost or found. Brave exists in the midnight hour and at bright noon sunshine o’clock when the world spins so fast and old demons rage and you keep walking forward anyway.
Brave is a whisper some days and others its a battle cry.
Sometimes the bravest of us still need our dad to run alongside. Sometimes admitting that is the bravest kind of brave.
STOP
God-moment here: a friend shared that song with me yesterday to encourage me…Thanks, Lisa-Jo :)
Your words always inspire me to be a better writer :) I love the imagery and the emotion that emanates from your posts. Yes, brave is certainly sometimes just hitting “publish” ;) Thank you so much for another great week of FMF! It’s my favorite part about Thursday nights!
I love this word! I love this community of writers who are all so brave each week!
I am in love with this video! Can’t wait to show my daughter. So love it. I can’t stop saying I love it. Stop me, seriously. (Love it)
I KNOW, right?! I can’t stop playing it either :)
Brave is a whisper some days and others it is a battle cry.
Love that!!
Love what you do Lisa-Jo, but more importantly, love who you are.
Thank you, Lisa-Jo, for sharing this video. Thank you for allowing me to be brave with you each week!
Lisa-Jo, I have a strong feeling the poster after me has not written on this subject. I have checked the post, and it’s a bunch of photos, and all in a foreign language too – and they’ve not left a comment on my post. This of course means the cycle is broken and I won’t get a comment from a fellow #FiveMinuteFriday writer. Can you check this out for me? (My post is under the name ‘James Prescott’, it’s number 43 on the list. Thanks Lisa-Jo!
Ah, it looks like you may have already seen this – the poster after her has now posted on my blog, so it looks like I’m not the only one who’s noticed this. Anyhow, just thought you should know :-)
James, when I went to comment on that post you mentioned, I noticed the same thing! So I skipped past it and onto yours. And I’m so glad I did! Wonderful words.
Thanks for the head’s up James. I deleted that link. Love seeing the community still keeping the comment cycle going – thanks Lauren!
Sooooo delighted to have happed upon your blog and this wonderful group writing exercise tonight (credit to Heather from My Little Bird for leading me here through her Five Minute Friday post). That was the fastest I have ever “churned out” a post…and it didn’t feel like churning at all. More like flying.
Freewriting has always been one of my favorite things (I taught English for three years and used it with my students regularly)…but this was my first time publishing “unedited” text on my blog. It felt grrrrreat, and I can’t wait to do it again.
This–> “and it didn’t feel like churning at all. More like flying.” oh I love that and YES that’s what this is supposed to feel like. Welcome Lauren!
Love this. So beautiful.
I had been wanting to write something exactly like I ended up writing for this post for a while now. About how I LOST family and friends because I live my life fully for Christ. I live to love and it breaks my heart into a million pieces that they are okay with others but not the ones who love them unconditionally in Jesus. I’m saddened. But so glad to have finally gotten this out … In case they are reading. I want them to know I DO love them. Thank you for this prompt. It was certainly time.
Thank you for this video and for your amazing post this morning! I’ve not only watched the video a couple times, I think I’ve read your words a few dozen as well.
“Some days brave is the mom with the tired eyes getting back up again, making another snack, comforting another fear, going to the parent-teacher conference she dreads.”
I needed that reminder.
Let your words fall out…I want to see you be brave! Never heard that song before…what an encouraging one with that video and lyrics…we are those dancing girls! We bloggers are brave. I know my friends and family likely think I’m “nuts” at times…but I love being in the peanut butter sticky stuff with the sisters of Christ!
I’ve just done the five minute challenge today for the first time and this is my post: http://mandybakerjohnson.com/writing/2013/05/03/brave/ I’m not sure I’ve ‘linked’ correctly though. Help!
Oh how many times I’ve experienced this you write about: “and old demons rage and you keep walking forward anyway.”
It’s the faith and hope so shut up inside that things can and will be different on the other side. Loved this word prompt Lisa-Jo. May we all move forward bravely in our God-given assignments!
My name is Brave…..loving these Five Minute Fridays. Way too much fun…..can we have Five Minute Mondays – Tuesdays – Wednesdays -Thursdays……?
Hugs brave girl,
Kelly
This song! I just sat and watched it again with my 5 year old daughter and she asked me what Brave means. Lisa-Jo!!! You gave me this awesome opportunity to show her. And then to point to all of the little boxes with all of the little pictures of all of the Big Brave Women (and few brave men) that write their brave words every week. What a vivid explanation she received this morning.
(And she asked where my little picture was. So now… I better get on it!)
I LOVE this song. A friend recently introduced me to Sara Bareilles and she is amazing. Totally using this video in my post today, too.
This line -> Brave is a whisper some days and others its a battle cry – YES!! love that song, too. I hadn’t heard it before. Did she write that for you!!! :)
this sounds like so much fun but i am terrified of twitter. could you please write to me and tell me how twitter works with your process of this blog. i love what you are doing! i have written my blog post on the topic (on darkness within) but don’t understand twitter but want to be involved and make new friends. I am metaphysicalscience@gmail.com. Kisses and blessings, samara (rev.doc) xox
No need to be on Twitter to join us – just write your five minutes on your blog and link it up.
http://samaranavi.blogspot.ca/2013/05/the-hunted-and-huntress.html
Oh my- the quintessential FMF post me thinks! I had so many subjects that fell under brave I wanted to write on!
I wanted to leave a quick comment on here- my person is Genevieve and when I tried to post on hers I had to have a google plus account which I don’t. I didn’t want her to think I wasn’t cheering and reading along. Her words create an image of cold and desolation which is when you need to be your bravest to make choices to help yourself. Her words and imagery were so powerful!
She is number 137 with Seasons of the Soul
Thanks for caring, Cole. Love how diligent this community is about encouraging each other!
So powerful it made me teary, like I was there fighting the fight at each turn. Awesome as usual.
“Brave” has been my “word” for the past few months as I battle health issues. I actually “saw” this word as I was having trouble sleeping last night and let my mind drift to what today’s prompt would be. I was shocked, but grateful, to actually see it on your post today.
Thank you for choosing this word for me today. I really needed to write about it.
Love that last line, Lisa-Jo. It’s so true, isn’t it? Sometimes brave is letting someone in, letting someone walk alongside of you as you’re wobbling and about to tip right over.
Of course you love this song, and this artist. Because we’re like twins a few years apart. And born on another continent… ok, well, maybe I’m reaching a bit… How about kindred spirits??
Amazing how God continues to use you, and these #FMFParty people to pick me up, dust me off and give me the courage to start again. Just what I needed. “Brave is a whisper some days and others its a battle cry.” Today, my whisper became the battle cry once more. Thank you for encouraging that!
Off to go listen to that song for the 5th time in a row. (It’s gonna be in my head FOREVER…)
I love your take on Brave. And I think the song should be the FMF theme song. :-)
“Brave is a whisper some days and others its a battle cry.” But either way it is. Thank you for helping us see this, Lisa.
What a great video!!
And I truly enjoyed today’s prompt. Though… AFTER I wrote and published I thought of so many other things I could have written.
I am thankful for you Lisa-Jo. Thankful for your constant encouraging words.
Lisa-Jo, you are the best for hosting us all on Fridays! I love me some FMF! I’m sure every post is gorgeous this week but Abbey’s left me speechless. I hope you have a chance to read it…and I hope I’m not breaking FMF etiquette by doing this! http://www.survivingourblessings.com/2013/05/five-minute-friday-brave.html#
Hello! I just dropped by Lauren’s blog, Thinking Closet, and read her Five Minute Friday post. I admire how you all challenged yourself. Yes, challenge, because for someone like me who is not really that good in writing, five minutes are not enough to finish a post. I also would like to challenge with hopes to improve myself when it comes to writing. Expect me to like my post on the next Five Minute Friday. :)
Just found this and I love it!!! I will do my very bestest to participate next week. It’s a magnificent idea :-)
That last section of your post really got to me. More than anything, I need my daddy right now, but that can never happen this side of Heaven again. And I’m not feeling the least bit brave, just mostly broken.
The part regarding the baby on the stairs, not holding your hand…that’s definitely a brave moment for both mama and baby. It is so hard to not just reach out and carry them down the stairs.
As always, I enjoyed your post. You have a way with words that goes straight to the heart of the matter, whatever that matter is. Have a great week!
Dear Lisa-Jo,
This is way over-due, and I apologize for that. It’s been a busy week, to say the least. But I wanted to say “Thank You” for posting the Brave video and for choosing “brave” as your prompt last week. I wrote about one of my good friends and the fact that she attempted suicide last year but how incredibly brave I thought she was because she chose life instead of giving up. She’s doing well today and if it weren’t for her bravery, I would never have met her and signed up to walk the Overnight walk in DC for suicide prevention.
I LOVE the song Brave and the video for it. I tweeted to Sara Bareilles after I saw it last week, to tell her how much I loved her song and that I recently found my own definition of brave. I’ve been sharing the song ever since, and it’s my belief that it will be an incredible catalyst for the fight against bullying – not only regular, old school bullying, but also against the bullying towards the LGBT community and the mental health consumers of the world. I am so appreciative to Sara for writing it and putting it out there into the world to do the good I envision it will do.
Thank you for writing so open and honestly. I love your voice. I love how you give back to the blogging/writing community. And how you inspire a sense of faith within me that I am only recently beginning to discover.
Happy Mother’s Day! xoxo
Just realized I missed this by a week … Here is my post, I really want to share.
http://simplyphenomenal.wordpress.com/2013/05/11/five-minute-friday-brave/
I missed This FMF and still want to share:) Here’s my post:
https://avasophie.wordpress.com/2013/05/23/five-minute-friday-brave/
Well said. Especially the last line. http://bellesbazaar-heather.blogspot.com/2014/02/brave-5-minute-prompt.html