So grateful for you guys, for this space, for the God who gives us the gift of creativity and community.
Thank YOU.
Five Minute Friday is going to take the month of December off. We’ll start fresh in January. So for now, let’s write our fingers off with gratitude. Today we get to pause and count out loud the gifts the God of all good things has given us. Let’s count together – at least five minute’s worth.
How to Join:
Want to know how Five Minute Friday got started and how to participate? All the details are here.
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:::
Thank You…
GO
I lie in the dark of an upstairs bedroom in my sister-in-law’s house. Zoe is in the pack ‘n play to my left and the two boys are sleeping bag style sleeping on the floor at the foot of the bed. Peter is downstairs with his brother and dad and they’re all keeping up a running commentary on the game, the teams, the trades, the memories that have sewn them into each others’ stories all these long years together and apart.
Dear God, thank you. Thank you for this generosity. Thank you that I hold here in my heart an ache so hard and deep that I can hardly breathe. Thank you for pouring your love into the skin of these people who make me whole. Thank you for lavish love like so much heaped up mashed potatoes. So good and true and nourishing to my toes, to my finger tips, to my broken bits and pieces.
Thank you for teaching me how to love these people and how these kids have shaped and velveteened me over the years.
The radio playing next to us pauses for a commercial and talks about weight loss programs for muffin top moms. I roll over and listen to Zoe breathe. Those good boys of mine, they mutter in their sleep. And this muffin top isn’t ashamed. This body is so stretched out because who can contain this kind of love? Who can care about a few extra curves when they come straight from the place where creation dreams and plans and makes new things.
We are family. We are the truest versions of ourselves in our snug jeans and Lions sweatshirts and stains from making the gravy. Thank you God for so much every day wonder in a kitchen in Akron, Ohio.
So full.
STOP
OK, show us what you got! {Subscribers, you can just click here to come over and play along}
“Thank you for lavish love like so much heaped up mashed potatoes. So good and true and nourishing to my toes, to my finger tips, to my broken bits and pieces.” I love this imagery. I will never eat mashed potatoes in the same way again!
So much to be so thankful for! The more you look, the more you find. It just bursts out.
agreed, agreed agreed!
If I didn’t know better, I’d say comfort food is your love language. :). So thankful for you and your realness at every turn.
The way you turn a phrase does my heart good. Thankful for YOU, Lisa Jo Baker.
(I had written one version of 5MF that the internets ate. And then I pitched a fit. And then I cried. My link is a second attempt, truly written in less than five minutes. :) )
Beauty.
This is beautiful. I brought a tear to my eye!
Thanks for December off! I’ll be rested and ready in January! Bless you and your words friend!
Thank YOU!!!!
I don’t join in often, but love it when I do :) Thanks for giving us a weekly prompt.
Thank you. Needed a reminder to embrace my muffin top today… most recently risen from a babe who didn’t make it to be here with us. Just because that babe isn’t here doesn’t mean He wasn’t at work creating. That womb made life, even if it was short lived here.
Oh Jess, yes and yes and yes. Babies grow us into mothers each month, each day, each moment, each flicker they are in our eyes. Blessings on you as you treasure how your body grew you into a mother – that doesn’t change. Praying peace on you this Thanksgiving.
Hi Lisa-Jo
Thank YOU for all the joy you bring to us by gathering us all together on Fridays to bring joy to our Pappa God’s heart. Enjoy your Xmas season with your loved ones!
Much love and blessings
Mia
One of God’s greatest gifts was giving us the ability to be grateful, and thankful. It’s there, inside, we just have to look for it, even when life isn’t great, there’s always something to be thankful for.
I read regularly but this is my first time sharing. Thank you for this community! It was a real God thing today.
beautiful prayer. I just have one question: is that the Detroit Lions you speak of when you “Lions sweatshirts?” Just wondering. My little Detroiter heart is hoping. =)
i thank God for you sweet friend. so glad you’re taking a rest.
I think this is a wonderful blog post, it is so important to cherish what we have got and never take it for granted. Great photos.