Five Minute Friday: Rhythm

Joining Five Minute Friday over at Lisa-Jo Baker's blog. This week's word is "rhythm."


Life often seems to have a natural rhythm - a natural way that things happen as we go. And we get comfortable in it. We can even stop thinking about the natural rhythm of life when things are going well.

The same thing seems to happen in nature as well. We move from one season to the next - from day to night and back again.

But there are times when the rhythm that we're used to get interrupted. Sometimes just in one way and sometimes in many ways.

My mind has been thinking about this since early yesterday. That's when I first heard of flooding and crazy amounts of rain in areas where I have family and friends living. The news just seemed to keep getting worse as the day went by - and it still isn't getting better.

The rhythm of nature that we all got used to was interrupted. And then it began to interrupt the rhythm of life for many people. We can no longer stay comfortable.

Usually I have some sort of point I try to make in my writing, but today I can't come to one. My mind is full of pictures of the destruction I've seen from floods. And stories I've heard of the natural rhythm of life being interrupted.

Today I'm left with the reminder that we cannot control nature. And the need to pray for those affected by thing we cannot control - because when we pray we're talking to the One Who can control those things.

Choosing Forgiveness

It seems like in the past few months, some of my Thursday posts have been reposts of things I wrote and shared here years ago. I've shared them again because I feel like they are what God has been teaching my lately. They reflect where I'm at on my journey with God.

And in the case of this poem I wrote that I'm sharing again today, when I first wrote it I had no idea how significant what I was writing was. I wrote about forgiveness and unforgiveness back on December 11, 2010. I know I was walking that journey when I wrote this, although I don't remember all the details. When I read this poem again today, I was struck by how much of what I wrote spoke to deeper issues of unforgiveness and the choice to forgive then I realized at the time. I've learned much about it on my journey in the last few months.

So, with that introduction out of the way, here's a repost of a poem I wrote and posted on December 11, 2010.

Choosing to forgive

With the help of God

Frees us from the other

Helps us to move on

Unforgiveness traps us

Keeps our heart all tied up

With the one who caused us pain

Freedom seems elusive

Revenge our only choice

But when will it be enough

That the other person pays?

Will it ever satisfy?

Or will we long for more?

Maybe God does have it right

The only way to freedom

The only way to peace

Forgiveness from our hearts

Cancelling the debt

Letting go of anger

Giving Him our hurt

Seeking reconciliation

Moving on with love

Choosing to forgive

With the help of God

Frees us from the other

Helps us to move on

Remember

"Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely that you do no forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them."

Deuteronomy 4:9

These are words Moses spoke to the people of Israel when they were on the edge of the Promised Land. A Promised Land that Moses himself would never enter.

But Moses knew something important and he was making sure the Israelites knew it.

Moses was telling the Israelites the importance of them remembering what God had brought them out of and how he had cared for them as they wandered in the desert. Moses knew that they would be in trouble if they ever forgot that. It is something they needed to recount to other people - to pass the stories on.

We can learn from these words of Moses about our lives as well. Just as Moses told the Israelites they needed to remember what God had done for them and how He had rescued them, and that they needed to share those stories with other people, we need to do the same.

We need to make a point to remember what God has rescued us from.

We need to make a point to remember how God has cared for us.

And we need to share those things with other people.

When we don't remember and we don't share those things with other people, we quickly find ourselves in trouble. We lose sight of who God is, and who He has created us to be.

We have to make sure we remember these things - write them down, share them with other people.

"Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely that you do no forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them."

Deuteronomy 4:9