Joyfull Living

Today, I'm joining up with Five Minute Friday, a fun writing opportunity to connect and share a quick thought on this week's theme "Path". For many years, when coming across a Scripture about 'paths', it turned into a prayer and desire to be led down God's open paths. Through the years of life which included, marriage, keeping a home, job, raising children and as they began to explore their own paths, seeking God and His paths became a vital part of life and prayer.  As God's Word reveals God's goodness and His ways, I want to be walking - living a lifestyle on the paths that He leads.  Some of my favorite 'path' verses include: Proverbs 4:18 "But the path of the just is like the shining sun, That shines ever brighter unto the perfect day."   Psalm 25:4,  "Show me your ways, LORD, teach me your paths,"  Proverbs 3:5-6: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding; in all your way...

 For many centuries, the Church has identified the beginning of the Christmas celebration with a time of reflection and expectation called Advent. The word Advent means "coming" or "arrival" and, when used in conjunction with Christmas, reminds us of the anticipation and expectation held over hundreds of years by the people of Israel for their Messiah and promised King. As we enter the Christmas season, there is an air of expectancy all around us. But it has transitioned from the traditional Advent - to one filled with expectancy of the things the season holds - the beauty of lights and sounds, time with family, gifts. Christmas is coming and we often get lost in the preparations and our expectations fades.  But Christmas is a magical time, there is a song in the air, if we allow it, the atmosphere changes. Christ has come into the world and we celebrate His birth!  Luke 1:78-79 " Through the tender mercy of our God, With which the Dayspring from on high has vi...

Today is Friday and I am participating in Five Minute Friday which is a writing exercise based on a particular word prompt. Today's word is RESCUE. Here in the south, the word "rescue" is mostly used in reference to an ambulance. " We need to call rescue " is the way we communicate how to get an ambulance and some help. When I was a young girl, I had a deep but unwarranted fear of ambulances. Looking back, it was probably based on the sound of the siren. My parents told me I could hear an ambulance siren and come running to them asking "is it coming here? " before they even heard the first wail of the siren. I was terrified the ambulance would arrive at our house. This fear continued through my childhood and early adult years. As a young bride in my 20's I was hanging clothes on the clothesline one day and heard a siren. This was very unusual as we lived in a rural area. Closer and closer the sound came and I began to panic. Seeing red lights and t...

 Today's word prompt for Five Minute Friday i s DESPERATE. This brought to mind an example from years ago. When our boys were younger, they were involved in 4H clubs and one of their projects was to raise a pig to show in the county fair. The purpose of this project was to learn responsibility in caring for the pig through meeting its daily needs such as food, water and shelter. One of our boys was doing some work on the pen which housed the pig and unhooked the automatic waterer. This water system was perfect, as the it connected to a source of continual flowing water and when thirsty, the pig went to the spigot and the pressure of its mouth opened the flow of water.  On this day, once the work was completed on the pen, my son forgot to reconnect the hose to the automatic waterer. Later in the day, my husband went to look at the pig. You could tell the signs of the pigs desire then desperation for water. It began to push much harder on the spigot, trying to get water, then ...

 Over at Five Minute Friday - which is a fun writing exercise, the weekly word to write about is ACCOUNTABILITY.  This is one of those words depending on your personality that you may view as either safe or intrusive. Accountability is an action that requires us to share, trust deeply and step into some action of transparency. It may mean exposing our weaknesses, confessing our faults and asking for help to become better. The end result, if we align ourselves wisely, brings us to a better place. I have always loved fitness and exercise. Evening walks were a source of relaxation when I was younger. Once pregnancy and babies arrived, exercise helped me lose the baby weight. But, I was always a 'fitness loner', staying home and exercising with videos or a routine. I thought my routine was great for so many years, but the routines were not challenging, done with the same intensity, simply being something to check off my daily schedule. They helped maintain a level of health, but ...

Happy Friday! Today I am participating in Five Minute Friday, a writing exercise where a word prompt is given, followed by five minutes of sharing your thoughts on the word. This week the word is DRIVE. As a mom to three sons, the word DRIVE at first evoked fear in my heart. Becoming of age to drive for a teenager is a marker and vivid reminder that a young boy is well on his way to becoming a man. Being able to drive opens up a whole new realm of freedom, responsibility and risk.  In our state, teenagers must first receive a 'restricted license' which means all driving must be with an adult present and only during certain hours. After a year of following these guidelines, you are eligible for a regular drivers license. When our first son received his restricted license, my husband easily embraced the opportunity to give him driving experience and let him drive our family around. I usually sat nervously in the back seat, thinking if we wrecked due to inexperience, it would w...

  Happy Friday! I am participating in Five Minute Friday which is a fast, fun opportunity to strengthen my writing skills. A word prompt is given and you are encouraged to write for five minutes on a specific topic. Today's word is STRONG.   Strong is a powerful word to speak, but is much harder to put action into. The journey to strong usually begins with weakness - an area that needs improvement or to be strengthened. Becoming stronger can be a process or a journey, often filled with challenges that in the end, make us better.  Recently, my husband and I took a quick trip to the Georgia mountains. 2 of our sons are currently in Georgia, so we enjoyed a visit with them and then headed for a quick empty nest trip to the mountains.  One of our favorite things to do is to take walks on the mountain trails. There is something so calming about the mountain air, leaves and streams. We took off on a trail that would lead to a waterfall. There was only one sign at the begi...

  Happy Friday! In our area this has been a week full of much needed rain but along with that came days on end of clouds and humidity. Typical southern summer weather. But since the rain was so desperately needed, each day as I faced clouds and grayness, I was determined to be thankful for the rain, but after days of not seeing the sunshine, I was ready to see the sun!  This morning the sun broke out and as I stepped outside for a morning run, the air was beautiful, drier and brighter and it made for a beautiful start for the day. The change in weather was so evident and it changed my outlook and attitude.  Today's Five Minute Friday is on the topic of QUIET. In our world today it can be hard to find a place of quiet. But like the sunshine and fresh air I experienced this morning, quiet can enter our hearts and make all the difference in our lives.  Quiet can be a place of sacredness where rest can fill our bodies, peace can fill our hearts and clarity can come in...

 Happy Friday! I'm joining in a writing link up over at Five Minute Friday. The word for this week is  DISAGREE. At first, this sounds like an ugly word to me, I much prefer kind, soothing words such as peace, harmony, love and kindness. But the fact is, we all will face disagreements sometimes. Disagreement is not always bad, it usually begins with a difference in opinion with another person. There actually can be some opportunities to grow when we find ourselves facing a different perspective. As we face disagreements, it gives us a peek into the heart of another person. The heart of a person is the seat of thoughts, emotions and reasoning.   Opinions begin in the heart as do our responses. Often the immediate thoughts that occur when one has a differing opinion can be harsh and condemning. When someone is not thinking as we do, we label them different and probably wrong!!  But listening and seeking to understand doesn't necessarily mean we will change our min...

 SLOW - is the word prompt for a writing link up I enjoy over at Five Minute Friday. The word SLOW   ranks near the bottom of the priority list in my life. I enjoy living out action words like - productive, high energy, quick, busy, active, words that allow and encourage me to do something. I am one who enjoys 'doing', a quick re-acter, often drawn to serve others quickly, not wanting them to wait for me. I answer emails and texts quickly, can be easily interrupted and thrive on seeing how many activities I can put into a day ...or hour!! My season of life has slowed down as our children have grown and are now living independent lives and do not need me to do the things for them as in the past. My mornings are not spent preparing breakfast, packing lunches and rushing children out the door. Everything in this season of life is slower.  After a time of transition and attempting to fill in those slow times, I've learned the value of slow. It provides something greater tha...

Today I am joining Five Minute Friday to share some thoughts on the word RECOVER. The definition of recover is to return to a normal state of health, mind or strength or to find or regain possession of something.  Recover is a term that can be used in a variety of situations. We can recover from illness, physical exertion, from a traumatic event, from substance abuse. Recover can be a word of hope as the focus shifts from where we currently are to a future place of returning back to normal.  But to recover indicates there is a process involved. Being an avid fitness participant, I love the benefits of working my body to push its physical limits, then feeling the rush of adrenaline that comes with recovery. Beyond the feeling of accomplishment in physical recovery, there are great benefits in the recovery process. After the pain of a strenuous workout, an active recovery - which means continuing in a less strenuous movement such as walking is often considered more beneficial t...

This weekend is Mother's Day and you have probably noticed an abundance of beautiful items that grace the entrance to the stores we visit. Cards, mugs, flowers, beautiful signs, all gifts that express to moms the special role they play in our lives.  Today's Five Minute Friday writing prompt is "She".   A very simple, yet appropriate topic for this Friday! Christians moms during this time of the year often reflect on the biblical passage of Proverbs 31. In its context, it is a mother writing to her son - a king - about the virtues of a wife that he should be seeking for. Every mother with sons has that same desire, for him to find a wife filled with virtue and honor.  As the Bible often does, it reflects a question or pondering that reflects back to ourselves. In the Proverbs 31 passage, we tend to examine our life based on these qualities and may find we come up lacking! This is not the description of an unattainable, perfect woman, but qualities that all women shou...

Happy Friday! Today I am participating in "Five Minute Friday" an opportunity to write thoughts about a given work prompt. Today's word is "Broken".   Broken —what a sad word. When I hear the word broken, in my mind a picture comes of something fragile that was once beautiful but now lays shattered in pieces on the floor. When something is 'broken', it is easily discarded, or no longer useful to us. Broken applies to more than items that take a fall or become damaged, it is a heartbreaking word when applied to relationships, attitudes or people.  But for every broken thing, a cry comes out—fix it. Put it back together, take the pieces and bind them up. From plates on the floor to hearts in anguish, if someone could just come and put the pieces back together again.  If we were never broken, we would never know the wholeness of God. That’s the beauty of brokenness. When our hearts are broken, when we’ve just made a mess of things, that is the space when Go...

  A sweet childhood memory I have is being in my maternal grandmothers old house. It was really an old shack on the outside, but inside it was full of love that spoke to all the senses. Snuggles with Grandma and her homemade quilts, smells of a meal always cooking, sights of old treasures she would happily tell stories about, love totally surrounded you when you were there. A sound I always associate with Grandma's house is the sound of an old fashioned pressure cooker. As a child, we lived in the big city, but would make the hours long trip to the country to visit Grandma. In the south, boiled peanuts were a staple for my grandparents and a true treat for my parents and I.  During our summer visits, Grandma would boil peanuts in her old pressure cooker. She would fill the pot full of peanuts, water and salt and let them cook for hours. After a while the pressure cooker would begin to make noises! A gentle rocking of the pressure regulator would begin.  I now understand t...

For Five Minute Friday the word prompt is "Sunrise" .  This is my favorite time of the day and I've written numerous posts on the wonder and beauty of this daily gift from God. This post immediately came to mind to share for today's FMF. I can still feel the anticipation of catching sunrise at the beach!  August - 2016 Although the beach is always beautiful, my favorite time of the day there is sunrise. To see the sun breaking over the ocean is truly a sight to behold.  On a recent beach trip, we spent 3 mornings going for an early morning walk on the beach. On the first morning, the sun was already up in the sky.  It was pretty, but we decided to go a little earlier the next morning to try and catch a better view of the rising sun. On Day 2 the sun wasn't too high, but had already broken.  It was beautiful and peaceful to see, but we knew there was a moment of the morning that we were missing.  Day 3, we hit it just right.  As we walked to t...

I have a sister in law who can fix anything. Give her a home improvement project and she dives in headfirst and stays with it through completion. No detours or roadblocks stop her, she keeps at it until it is finished.  I married into a family of 4 boys who are all self sufficient and able to perform household repairs independently. The family I was raised in always called someone in to do any home projects. Do it yourself projects were foreign to me when I got married, but the value of being able to fix things quickly became clear.  I am the opposite of my sister in law. Home projects or repairs terrify me. Identifying and problem solving are just too overwhelming, take too much time and effort. Now, people fixing - that is a different story and  is something I can get into!  With people, a problem area or character flaw can be quickly identified and often, I have a remedy ready! When situations are shared, my mind can quickly find a solution that would help fix the...

Hello Friday and the completion of the first full week of 2021! This post is a writing exercise for Five Minute Friday - an opportunity to receive a writing word prompt and write for 5 minutes your thoughts. Today's word is TIME.  TIME is such an appropriate word as we begin a New Year. There is something about a New Year or a fresh start that opens up an opportunity for change. One of the greatest challenges many people face is with TIME - we struggle with how much we time we have in a day, how to best use that time and how to make the most of it. We are allotted the same amount - 24 hours, but our circumstances and season of life determine the challenges of using time wisely.  One of my favorite New Year's Bible verses is Ephesians 5:15-16 - " See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise,  redeeming the time, because the days are evil." This verse always seems to bring clarity to the importance of time and how to be purposeful in using it to th...