Five Minute Friday

[Five Minute Friday] Real

I like to play jokes on people.
Nothing really bad, just teasing. Telling little stories and seeing their unbelieving faces and their “really” expressions.
Some fall for it, they believe the fake story I just told them. Others don’t, they go deeper and ask for the real thing, the truth.

In a world of fake IDs, fake relationships and fake products, the realty is hard to find.
Many argue there isn’t actually a reality, everything is constructed.
But what if realness is there – buried deep inside of us and often found in unexpected places.

A student struggling with depression is real.
People in Syria living in the rubble of what used to be their homes are real.
Christians all over the world fearing for their lives because of their faith are real.
A Christian couple in your church getting a divorce is real.
A spouse yelling at you and not understanding every single one of your problems is real.
A friend letting you down or telling you something unexpected is real.
An experience of failure making you aware of your own weaknesses is real.

Being real doesn’t mean being perfect.
It often actually means real pain, struggles, breakups, failure, tough relationships.

What if being real meant being raw?
Authentic?
With all its edges and cliffs and struggles?

A real diamond is raw at first.
It looks like a stone and nothing fancy.
Only the chisel of a skilled master and life’s changes bring out the true beauty.
A raw stone turns into a real diamond.

Being real means being raw stones, nothing fancy or glamorous.
It means pain and struggles and disappointments.
But through courage and honesty we discover a bit more of our rawness.
And all along I hope we experience the chisel of our master to carve us more into diamonds.
Real treasures he already sees in us.

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Linking up with Kate Motaung for Five Minute Friday. Five Minutes of flat writing on one prompt. Sharing with other wonderful writers. Come and join us!

[Five Minute Friday] Plan

I try. I try really hard.
I think and plan and think and evaluate some more.
I neglect old plans and come up with new ones.
I rethink every idea I have and I am careful to not miss anything.

And yet, nothing goes as planned.
Time is too short, material is missing, students come up with their own, unique ideas.
I have not taught a single lesson the way I had planned it.

And that is totally fine.

Working with people is never a full-proof thing.
You can’t choose to invest in people without taking a risk.
You can’t program others like you would program a computer.
You can give a certain input, but you can never be sure about the outcome.
Everyone working outside an office might be familiar with that.

We’re all little planners.
We plan our day. When to get up, when to do what, when to meet friends.
We plan our months and years. When to visit relatives, when to go on vacation.
We ultimately plan our lives. When to get married. When to have kids. Where to live and how to pay off mortgages.

We experience success, happiness, and fulfilled plans.
But I guess I’ve never met a person who hasn’t also experienced defeat, disappointment, and loss.
Plans fail. Every day, in every life.

And that is fine as well.
Because at the end of the day it’s not about the plan.
It’s about the interruptions and my attitude towards them.
They might change my plans, give them a different direction, bring something or someone to life we’d have never expected.
That’s what makes life rich and beautiful.

So how interruptible are your plans today?

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On Fridays I plan to link up with Kate Motaung and a fabulous group of writers for Five Minute Friday. One prompt. Five minutes of writing. No editing. Come and join us!

[Five Minute Friday] Visit

Teaching isn’t always easy.

Passing on content you’re not really interested yourself can be challenge.
Speaking about things you’re really passionate about can be a real struggle.

I enter the room and 25 more or less interested students look at me.

Expectantly, hoping I don’t do grammar with them.

No, no grammar today.

A question instead: How many slaves work for you?
Blank faces.
Surprise.
Question marks.
A joke about mom doing their laundry quickly dies when I ask them to do research.

They get onto the computers, visit the first websites.

They read stories about child labor in Bangladesh to produce clothes the students are wearing everyday.
They look at pictures of Chinese production lines and people working day and night so that people over here can get a new phone every year.

They encounter the term human trafficking for the first time and are shocked that prostitution and organized crime exists right in front of their eyes.
Ninth grader cockyness turns into surprise, horror, shock.

I can hear quiet murmurs, people exchanging facts and questions.

Slavery is real.

It happens right in front of you.

In this globalized world this is our burden.

Today is “Shine a Light on Slavery” day.

The 27th of February – speaking up for the more than 27 million people in slavery.

And I hope that my students don’t just visit these websites.

That they don’t stop at talking about it.

That their shock and surprise turn into action.

And that I may join them.

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As always I am linking up with Kate Motaung and other fabulous writers.

If you want to know more about this topic, start with Slavery Footprint.

[Five Minute Friday] Open

My life is like a prison sometimes. I feel trapped in my day-to-day routine. I just function, but true life has left me.
My mind is like a prison sometimes. I mull the same thoughts and questions over and over, but there’s no answer that makes the spinning stop.
My soul is like a prison sometimes. Worries and fear of the unknown creep up and won’t let me sleep. The more I worry the bigger these forces become and tear me apart.

It’s so easy to become closed off.
Stuck in my own doings and pereceptions and worries.
Hidden from the world and other people.

How can you be a door opener
for other people?

But there is a door.
Only recently when I reflected upon this busy, busy year I had with final exams and studying 24-7, without any time for friends but a lot to worry about – only then did I realize I had a few doors along the way.
Or rather, door openers.

People like J.
Whenever I felt overwhelmed with questions and deadlines and my own emotions, there was J.
We would cook together or have coffee and she would listen.
And then speak firm and encouraging words.
She listened to my questions and pointed me towards answers.
She opened my perspective for more.
She restored a bit of hope where I had lost it.

J is a door opener.

Interesting enough, this year roles are reversed.
She’s stuck with exams and drowning in books.
She is overwhelmed with questions about the future.
She might also feel like in prison sometimes.
The other day we had lunch and talked a bit how much I appreciated her role in my life. And then she said, “but don’t you know that you’re my J?”

This touched something inside of me because that’s who I want to be.
I want to be someone’s J.
A friend who shares life with you.
A listener.
An encourager.
A thinker.
A “sit still and wait” person.
A perspective changer.
A hope restorer.
A door opener.

*Yes, there were other people in the last year, too, and I can’t thank them enough for being Js in my life! If you’re reading this, please know how much I appreciate you!

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Friday is writing time!Kate Motaung‘s Five Minute Friday party!
Five minutes to give it a go at

[Five Minute Friday] When

No matter how much you plan a lesson, a day, or a life – something will always go wrong.
Isn’t this the attitude we often have towards life?
Well, what if things interrupt our plans, but in a very positive, surprising way?
Especially when you least expect it.

Today is my first day of the holidays.
It was quite a delight walking out of the school yesterday and feel the knowledge flood me: You’re off for an entire week. You can sleep and rest.
With these high spirits I walked downtown.
At a traffic light I ran into a friend I had met in my first semester and hadn’t seen in quite a few years.
I thought I would just say hello and then move on.

I was wrong.

We started talking about what we’ve been up to for the last few years and a superficial chat quickly turned into a time of sharing about challenges and faith questions.
We ended up going for coffee and a few minutes turned into a few hours.
We left the café, smiling and incredibly blessed.

I didn’t expect to run into that friend yesterday.
I hadn’t planned to spend hours in a coffee shop hearing his life story.
And yet I am so glad I did.

What if life isn’t about perfect plans and anticipating all the negative possibilities?
I guess life is more about our willingness to be interruptible.
To be open for the people and things that come across our way each day.
Because when we least expect it we will meet blessings in disguise.
These kinds of interruptions won’t destroy our timetables – they’ll enrich our souls in ways no planned event ever could.

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Friday means writing party over at Kate Motaung‘s place! One prompt. Five minutes of flat writing. No editing. But loads of encouragement from fellow writers!

[Five Minute Friday] Keep

Things had to change.
After five years of studying theory at uni, it was time to put knowledge into practice.
So I started a new job a few weeks ago. Actually, my first job ever. I am a teacher at a school nearby and the next 1.5 years I’ll be in training. People will watch and evaluate my teaching, there will be lots of late nights preparing and many early mornings.
I had heard quite a bit of rumors and horror stories about these years.
“You won’t have a life during this time.”
“You’ll just live for school.”

So obviously I wasn’t that thrilled when I had to get up at 5.30 am for the first time in many years.
I would cut all my extra curricular activities, no more social work.
I would limit my relationships because I wouldn’t have time for people.
I have to be an adult now. But is that really what it’s like?

Shortly after I started working I met a friend for lunch and she said something that stuck with me:
“Don’t stop living. Keep the things in your life that keep you alive.”

I guess we all know situations that drain our energy.
You might live through such a phase of life right now.
You only go from day to day.
You function, but you don’t live.
And slowly by slowly you realize joy has left the house called your heart.

Don’t cut off everything.
Yes, life is not just about fun and easy going.
Yes, there are times that really challenge us and take our energy.
But keep going.
Keep the things and people in your life that push you forward.
That touch something inside of you, below the surface.
In German, we have a verb for that: “beleben” – it gives life to you.

Keep life inside of you.
This might mean a good night’s sleep.
A coffee date with a friend.
Reading an encouraging and exciting book.
Going for a run.
In my case this means lots of cooking.
Playing music in a band.
Leading worship at church.
Practicing my administrational skills at organizing congresses.

Find what gives life to you.
Small things everyday, bigger things once in a while.
Don’t just function.
Live!

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Friday means five minute of free writing over at Kate Motaung‘s place – come and join us!

[Five Minute Friday] Wait

I pounded on the door.

Desperate to be let in.

My head full of questions, my heart like a restless sea of worry.

What is going to happen? What does the future hold for me?

Answer me, Lord.

Finishing a phase in life and transitioning into the next is not easy.

Stepping into new things in life feels like standing at the edge and wondering what would happen if I took the plunge.

The next steps are not mapped out clearly in front of me. All I can do is wait.

I don’t want to wait.

Waiting seems to be a natural part of life.

Waiting for the bus. Waiting for a friend who’s late. Waiting for summer. Waiting for the cake in the oven to be done.
Waiting for a better life to start. Waiting for the crisis to be over. Waiting for a spouse. Waiting for a child.

We often don’t want to wait, yet we have no way to change it.

We want to have the answer now. We want things now,

But what if it’s not really about the waiting to be over? What if the waiting is the essential thing?

Waiting time is never wasted time.

Waiting develops us in ways often unseen: endurance, patience with others and ourselves, an inner perspective.

Waiting prepares the canvas onto which our future is painted – brush stroke after brush stroke.

Waiting strengthens the foundation we can later build on.

Waiting sharpens our character for the trials to come.

Waiting redirects our perspective.

We become aware of our own dependence and neediness.

We open up ourselves to the help of others.

We find the Lord who is working in our waiting and who’ll open up doors we never ever pounded on.

What are you waiting for? And how are you waiting?

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It’s another Friday and over at Kate Motaung’s place we gather for a fabulous five minutes of writing. One prompt. Just write. No edit. Share and be inspired!

[Five Minute Friday] Share

It’s 6.30 am and my alarm clock won’t let me sleep any longer.
Time to get up and go to work.
I don’t feel ready for that.

The sky is dark, dawn is slowly creeping up.
I look out the window and see the neighboring houses covered in white.
Snow.
My mood drops, my smile turns into a grimly look, and I think “O no.”
I am not a fan of snow and the cold, but that’s a different story.
I walk into the bathroom to splash a bit of water into this sleepy face.
I make coffee.
All the while I feel a mood change taking place inside of me.
From hopeful to pessimistic.
From happy to moody.
Slightly aggressive.
And the day hasn’t even fully begun yet.

As I consider my feelings this morning I have to ask myself the uncomfortable question: What do I share today?
Do I want to pass on these feelings and attitudes to the people I meet today?
What do YOU share today?
How will people meet you on the street, at work, at uni today?
What will they take away from a conversation with you? A “Oh, she was really something today”, or “I feel encouraged because of her”?
What will you like and share on facebook or twitter? Yet another animal video or something that might speak to someone else?

I don’t know how your morning looked like.
But I know that the world’s already full enough of grumpy, hopeless people.
Share some difference today.
A smile.
A word of encouragement.
A bit of perspective in the midst of pessimism.

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One prompt. Five minutes of writing, no editing. That’s Five Minute Friday at Kate Motaung‘s place. It’s always a joy to share encouragement and stories with the other writers, come join us!

[Five Minute Friday] Send

You never know what shape and sizes happiness comes in.
Sometimes it can be just a small, square piece of paper.
Filled with words of encouragement.
As much as I like email and the speed we can communicate across continents these days — there’s nothing like opening your mailbox and finding handwritten letters from friends.

There’s something about putting pen to paper.
A process of reflection takes place as I try to find the words to convey my feelings.
It takes courage to share your heart.
It takes boldness to send out a piece of yourself to someone else.

But it is such a blessing.
Someone else gets a glimpse into your heart and life.
You enter a new level of friendship, you’re not strangers anymore.
Someone else reads your words of encouragement in times when they need it the most.

But the biggest blessing returns to you as you imagine their faces light up upon your letter.
Their hearts lifted because of your words.
Their faith renewed because of the faith you have for them.
And maybe they’ll be bold enough to reply and share a bit of themselves with you.

Let’s be bold.
Let’s not hide ourselves – our discouragement, struggles, and joys – from the world.
Let’s send out a bit of ourselves to others.
Let’s speak words of encouragement where it is most needed.
Let’s send out happiness in an envelope.

Well, this is the theory.
But I decided to do this in a very practical way and will join round five of #fmfpartysnailmail by Kaitlyn Bouchillon.
You send out five cards and you’ll get five cards.
You connect with wonderful women around the world.
Just one little step, but I am excited to see what will come out of it!
If you’re ever interested in doing something similar, let me know – I would love to connect!

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It’s Friday and as usual, I am meeting up with more wonderful writers over at Kate Motaung‘s place! Come and join the writing party!

[Five Minute Friday] Welcome

Welcome to 2015, readers! I hope you had a great start into the new year and are excited for all the things to come. It’s Friday, so as always, I join a fabulous writing community over at Kate Motaung‘s place.

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It felt like the first day of school.

Searching for rooms and familiar faces.

Meeting new people.

Slowly finding out who would become your colleagues and friends.

After five years of studying and two months of resting I am back in school.

Literally, since I will be teaching highschool students very soon.
The new year is truly new for me.

A new phase of life, full of adjustments, challenges, and changes.

But I am not sure I am ready to welcome them.

I don’t know how your last year looked like.

I don’t know what the new one has in store for you.

And I surely don’t know how you feel about all of this.
Are new people welcome in your home and life?
Do you expect or avoid changes in your life this year?
Do you dread or embrace the future?

Sometimes life and its people overwhelm you.

They surprise you. In a good way.

When I entered the school this week I was surprised to see many familiar faces.

People I didn’t know before turned out really nice and opened great conversations.
While I was mostly hesitant and scared of all the new courses and work to come I slowly rediscover a long lost feeling: passion and excitement for the new opportunities lying ahead of me.

So as we start this new year – each of us with their own challenges and joys – let go of the past and hesitation.

Let’s welcome new people in our lives or allow old ones to surprise us.

Let’s welcome interruptions and blessings in disguise.

Let’s be overwhelmed at times and enjoy times to breathe even more.

Let’s welcome life.