Friday, time to crack open the chocolate ice cream and unscripted version of beautiful you!
Got five minutes? Let’s write. Let’s finger paint with words –>{click to tweet}.
Let’s just write and not worry if it’s just right or not. Here’s how to play along:
1. Write for 5 minutes flat for pure unedited love of the written word.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in {you can grab the button code in my blog footer}.
3. Go leave some comment props for the five minute artist who linked up before you.
It’s a great way to catch your breath at the end of a long week.
OK, are you ready? Let’s see your best five minutes for the prompt:
In between
GO
You’ve carried boxes back and forth between the mini van and our old house and the new house for weeks now. You’ve been up early and in bed late and up early again when I forgot the plumber was scheduled for 6:30 am and you pulled on shorts while I just gratefully rolled over knowing you’d take care of it.
More than four but less than ten streets over. We’re starting again. Or picking up and walking across and into this next chapter – hands lifted high in wonder and awe. I have so much to say about this house I don’t know where to begin. Five minutes is a good start though to describing a five year journey. There are boxes and bean bags and your glasses out on the kitchen counter. I nearly forgot to bring my favorite candle holder out of the old, seventies style fire place. It’s here now tonight at my feet. But not in the new place yet. Because these are the in between days. The picturing and envisioning and unpacking and just lying at night surrounded by clothes I haven’t got hangers for yet full of so much gratitude it presses down on my chest and makes breathing hard and wonderful at the same time.
These are the days of miracle and wonder. This is a long distance call.
I’ve lived in the tension of homesick as long as I can remember. I treat with you and your kids and your family. And the ache eases as I ease another box open and there are the photos of the year we sent our first Christmas card together. When were we both that thin? I wore Adidas flip flops and glasses that whole first year of law school and you ate pizza every night.
I’m home just now from dinner with girlfriends and slices of cheese cake to celebrate her birthday and their are open pizza boxes all over the counter and three stools where I know you fed our children your favorite.
These are the days of miracle and wonder. And living in the now and not the in between.
STOP
oohhhh I love love love that last line of yours!
I love this, Lisa Jo. I know that unsettled homesickness and I don’t even know exactly where it’s for but I’m finding home more and more these days and I’m so happy for you and your boxes and your really beautiful bookcases and wall art and most of all, the family you have that makes it home every day right where you are.
I would have you over if I could :)
“These are the days of miracle and wonder. And living in the now and not the in between.”
What a beautiful encouragement to live in each moment. Thanks for this reminder of present grace.
Dear Lisa-Jo,
You are such an example to me of living in the now…learning from you…bless you and yours :)
Beautiful words Lisa-Jo! You’ve given me a new perspective on living life in the in-between. Blessings for a beautiful weekend.
Have been having a ‘read around’ and it seems so very many of us are living in some sort of in between right now. Makes me feel a little less alone. I think maybe our loving Father just knew that we needed this word today. Thank you!
Ahh, the joy and crazy of moving and unpacking! I am thrilled for you in your new space. What a delight and gift it is. ((hugs)) my friend.
Totally hook line and sinker Lisa, awesome last line friend! “living in the now and not the in between” So often we get so caught up in what ‘was’ and what is ‘coming’ we forget that ‘here’ and ‘now’ is where we should be. In between gets sticky…live for NOW!
Amen and amen! What a blessing to have a friend to be there through all this exhausting chaos. Think organized thoughts my friend. We will survive – then we shall party – WITH CHOCOLATE!! :)
I haven’t posted my FMF yet today. The emotions I feel from reading your post… I can not even begin to describe… strange is the best I can come up with. Happy Friday.
I’m right there with you. Surrounded by boxes and memories and gratitude for this new phase. Thank you for the reminder that the in between in beautiful, too.
Nice. A good reminder to not stop “living” while in the in-between. That’s where the miracles are!!
WOW…what a prompt today. The in between is what is so frightening.
Hi, I enjoyed participating this week in the Five Minute Friday. Thanks for hosting. I really enjoyed your imagery of your piece. Boxes and longing. Beautiful sentiments of a journey almost complete. :)
I have moved across states twice in the last 2 years. And I find the experience to be such a strong metaphor for life. The way we move into the future carrying the boxes of our past. The way it feels to sit in the chaos and recognize that so much of life is in process.
Blessings to you in this transition time! I hope you find peace in the chaos and joy in the hope for the future.
I love reading your Five Minute Fridays, Lisa-Jo, because it feels like we get a glimpse of your everyday. Congratulations on the move, how exciting! I hope things settle down for you and you soon begin to feel at home in your new home. Enjoyed writing on this week’s prompt. The in between seasons have always been tough for me to embrace, but I’m starting to understand why it’s better to hug them than to push away. xoxo
I don’t have a blog and am suddenly feeling very inferior. But, lurking is no fun, so I write.
Go.
I always wonder what happens between Friday and Sunday–the day our Jesus was laid in dark earth and the day He arose and rolled a stone, a boulder out of His way to reveal glory. I think about Saturday often–the miracle that was happening in the dark while His followers despaired and His enemies rejoiced. I wonder if there were pointed looks over Sabbath meal plates and mothers hushed fathers and warned them not to speak of such things. I wonder if the disciples felt deceived, limited by their human understanding, unaware of the mystery of the middle.
It is the Saturday–the in between the death and resurrection–that we work out our salvation with a fear and trembling, that we grapple in the darkness to find His pebbled road beneath our feet.
She has a bad dream about bees-my youngest and smallest. She cries out, and I wait in the still darkness for the familiar patter of little feet to seek comfort. She climbs onto the bed and nestles herself in the hollow between the two of us. And with the safety of a father, I think there might be no better place than in between, waiting for the rush of daylight…
Stop.
Love this!! Living in the now:) your amazing
Oh man, Lisa-Jo, I can so relate. We moved into the house we’re in two years ago and there are still unpacked boxes in the garage… don’t tell anyone though. ;) I keep promising myself there is a yard sale in our future. After two cross-country moves I still often find myself homesick for my hometown in South Carolina, but I’m finally starting to feel part of this community and I am so grateful for God’s provision. Beautiful post.
Isn’t that the ultimate goal? To embrace the now and look past the in between? Great post! And congrats on the new house :)
Hi Lisa-Jo,
You are moving house, we are ‘moving; Mojito. I did not even realize it was Friday. I lost a day somewhere this week. I posted the longest FmF post, it took 4 hours and 2 minutes to write the 5 minute posts. Geniet jou nuwe huis.
Patricia
But — aren’t you glad … (despite the tension of being homesick) that you have your own home and family …
One of these days, maybe you’ll get to visit ….
Thanks, Jenn
I loved this word so much today. It is the place I live right now, but God has taught me much in the in between place. I do believe this is a place I’ve drawn closest to Him, as I have time and a lot of blank space. I also loved what you wrote today. While I’m older than you, I can so relate to the emotions of moving and the things that bind us to a place. I’ve moved many times in my life, including a six year stint across the pond while my now 20-something daughters were just embarking on teenage-dom. Such a bittersweet thing, having a foot in two places. I always enjoy your perspective, and smile a little when you speak of ‘home’. Thanks for hosting this each Friday.
Thanks Lisa-Jo. With all the struggles of putting my writing out there and just being me whether or not I’m as good as the other person, who also had to start from somewhere, knowing that what counts is that “These are the days of miracle and wonder. And living in the now and not the in between”. This brings on new strength and I know that today, it is okay to be the beginner, the one trudging through the maze, for tomorrow I will be better! His grace would have carried me through and refined me. Thanks and bless you for giving the opportunity to think about the in-betweens.
I had googled blog link ups for Friday and I am so glad to have found your site. I am reading through a lot of the participant’s entries and I am just amazed at their poetic, sincere writing! It brings back the personalization of blogging.
I will definitely be back here!
In between. In between when my husband left and when he will return. All alone I sit in this city of souls unaware of my in between struggle. Two tiny babes and me…all crying out to God together. Praying for just enough to get through another day without daddy. A war not worth the sacrifice has stolen him from us, and our once beautiful marriage is slowly, slowly, slowly ripping at the seams. All I hear from him is pain, and I all I know to do is comfort with words that too often fail. A year is too long. It is like death. A death that can’t be grieved.
Just put on a mask of strength. No one wants to see the tears, and no one would understand them. I can’t do this, but I have to. Six months and counting. God forgive me for this year.
Dear Army Wife,
I am praying for you right now–that you feel a peace that surpasses all human understanding, that God in His great compassion and mercy will restore all that the locusts have eaten away, that your days of absence will be filled with sweet joys and reminders of His great affection for you. Beauty rises from the ashes, sweet one. If you are anywhere near Austin, I will buy you a cup of coffee and pray with you in person. :)
This is my first time writing a FMF…usually I just read a bunch of links and nod my head in agreement. Loving being a part of this community! Disappointed that I was unable to post my comment on #284.ClayGirlSings–she was a treat to read! :)
Lisa-Jo
I checked out your prompt on my Feedly and wrote and posted the words that came to me. We ran off to do some living and now I’ve finally come back to read yours. A great thought provoking prompt. Thanks for this challenge.
Thank you, Lisa-Jo, for making me sing that song after my rather depressing FMF blog post. It’s just what I needed to read, and just when I needed to read it. Now I’m bouncing on my couch to the music in my mind.
In between
Go
If you are in between, you are in something. in something but going to somewhere and coming from somewhere but you are in. The in should be enjoyed as much as the before and after. The in between is part of the journey too. Actually if you look at it , there is no inbetween, there is only being, a place i strive to be, being. Such as I AM, not I was, or I will be ! It is all life, even though we humans have plans and mark off periods of time by where we have been and where we are going, it is all life, every single precious second and in between does not have less significance than here and there! :)
STOP
This was great! We JUST moved into our new place, you just described our past month. I could totally relate. Only our move was so hasty, due to find toxic mold in our old apartment. But God has been so faithful, and our new condo is wonderful and beautiful. I really wanted us to buy, but the haste made it not an option. Once I got over my tempter tantrum and opened my eyes to see what God had done, I was ashamed of my toddler-like behavior and so thankful.
And Thankful for a husband who essentially took all the moving on himself, into that moldy air, so that the kids and I could be safe. I am so blessed.
May God continue to bless us both in our new homes!
My in between http://bellesbazaar-heather.blogspot.com/2013/10/in-between-5-minute-post.html
Incredible! This blog looks just like my old one!
It’s on a totally different subject but it has pretty much the
same page layout and design. Excellent choice of colors!