Five Minute Friday has rolled around again. All I had to do was blink…and it was here! It has been a crushing work week. The word is quiet. I’m glad to be able to be quiet this morning. To sip on my chai latte, write, and be…quiet!

What are the rules? Write for 5 minutes and don’t look back…too much! Link to Gypsy Mama’s Five Minute Friday page. And the most important thing? Stop by the person just ahead of you and leave an encouraging word!

GO

Quiet

This is a place I do not naturally go.

I am an extrovert. I like to be around people.

I like to be where there is fun and laughter.

I don’t only want that, but I don’t seek out misery.

After all, I’m a nurse. I get to deal with plenty at work!

However, with age, I have learned I need quiet.

I need time to be alone and reflect.

I am a creative person and without quiet,

I have no source of creativity.

It is in quiet where I can reflect

and think about how all the information in my head fits together.

Experience is good, but alone it doesn’t give the full picture.

Knowledge is good too, but alone, it can be very sterile.

Truth from GOD’s Word? Where does that fit?

Of course, it is primary and over all.

But the way it is integrated into my life can be very tricky.

I can put it together in such a way that it makes GOD’s truth sound dated.

It isn’t.

I can also be put it together in a way that makes it sound faddish.

It isn’t that either!

As I experience life and STOP

learn to be quiet before GOD

as well as with my own thoughts…

As I grow in knowledge and information…

I ask GOD to give me wisdom to communicate truth

in wise ways that transcend the limitations of culture.

…that touch hearts, not heads.

It is a tall order.

It requires resources I don’t have.

It requires quiet…something I don’t naturally seek.

The kind of quiet that isn’t available often today.

Quiet from the noise of people, computers, games, entertainment, TV…

and most of all, the noise of that voice that says, “No, it isn’t possible.”

“Who are you kidding to think that you could do ___?”

“That is a hopeless cause. There is no way anything can be done there and there is no WAY you can help!”

That is not the voice of GOD!

“Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak.

The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save;

He will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love;

He will exult over you with loud singing.

Zephaniah 3:16-17

photo: IStock photo #18163576