Five Minute Friday

[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.

Special: Favorite Christmas Memories

It’s Friday and I meet with many fellow writers over at Kate Motaung’s Five Minute Friday.

Today’s prompt is ADORE.

This feeling of awe in light of what we celebrate at Christmas.

This sensation of joy as we recall childhood memories.

Pure adoration for Christ in the midst of gift shopping and endless loops of annoying Christmas tunes is a piece of hard work.

It’s so easy to just fall into routine and leave our heart’s response to all of this behind.

Traditions can help us to focus on the important things again. Treasure the little steps of preparation. Feel the excitement and joy building.

Leadings our hearts to adoration.

As a Christmas treat I have a guest on my blog today.

Sophie Kröher is a dear friend of mine and she shares a few of her favorite Christmas traditions from the Eastern part of Germany with us. She is also a very, very talented photographer, so of course, you’ll find a bit of her work in here, too. 🙂

Her thoughts are in German; I have attempted to translate it below.

Von Würstchen in Mehl

Der Schatten der sich drehenden Pyramidenflügel an der Wand.

Feine Nebelschwaden der Weihrauchkerzchen in der Luft.

Leuchtend gelbe Punkte der Schwibbbogenkerzen, die sich im Fenster spiegeln.

Das Kinstern und Knacken einer Schallplatte.

Männeln wecken.

Mamas zerstochene Hände vom Bögenbinden.

Stollen buttern.

Heimlich die Butter mit Puderzucker an einer Stelle abkratzen.

Und dann, nach schier unendlich langem Warten: den Tannenbaum schmücken, Linseneintopf löffeln, Würstchen in Mehl wälzen, die nach Braten riechenden Haare waschen, in die Metten gehen.

Weihnachten im Erzgebirge.

Mein Weihnachten.

Beim Männeln wecken, Bögen binden und Stollen buttern bin ich leider schon seit einigen Jahren nicht mehr rechtzeitig dabei.

Pyramidenflügelschatten, Weihrauchnebelschwaden und Schwibbbogenkerzenspiegelungen habe ich mir wenigstens hergeholt.

Aber morgen geht’s heim, rechtzeitig zu Mamas Linseneintopf – dem besten der ganzen Welt und des ganzen Jahres.

Und um mit Papa Würstchen in Mehl zu wälzen.

Mein Weihnachten.

Daheim.

Sausages and Flour

The shadow of the pyramid wings moves along the wall.

Fine mist of the frankinscence candles in the air.

Bright yellow spots of the light arc are mirrored in the window.

The cracking sound of a vinyl.

To wake up the Männel (German tradition to put up the traditional frankinscence candle men).

Mom’s pierced hands while making the bows.

Butter the Stollen (Eastern German traditional Christmas loaf).

Scratch off the butter with powder sugar when no one is looking.

And then, after a long time of waiting: decorate the Christmas tree, eat lentil stew, roll sausages in flour, wash your hair smelling of meat, go to church.

Christmas in the Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains in the East of Germany).

My Christmas.

I haven’t made it in time for years to wake the Männel, make the bows, or butter the Stollen. A few things I managed to take with me, though – pyramids, frankinscence, and light bow.

But tomorrow I will go home, just in time for Mom’s lentil stew – the best stew in the world and of the whole year. Just in time to roll sauages in flour with Dad.

My Christmas.

At Home.

[Five Minute Friday] Prepare

This month I am doing a series on Advent and preparing ourselves for Christmas. You can find more info on the series here. Come and join us for a month of getting ready and waiting!

But it’s also Friday and I am linking up with Kate Motaung. Join our writing party here!

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Prepare.

I suppose this word sums up what we do during Advent.

We wait for Christmas, the birth of our savior.

And we prepare. Get everything ready.

Clean the house.

Plan the Christmas Eve meal.

Buy presents and wrap them.

Write Christmas cards.

“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;

make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

Every valley shall be lifted up,

and every mountain and hill be made low;

the uneven ground shall become level,

and the rough places a plain.”

Isaiah 40:3&4

The bible calls us to prepare. The Lord himself told the Israelites to prepare.

Make way for the Lord.

Prepare yourselves and everything around you because I’m coming.

So how does preparation look like back then and today?

Are we really prepared when Christmas comes or are we simply exhausted from preparing?

It is quite a big job to do to prepare for the Lord’s coming.

After years of struggle and exile and ‘punishment’ from the Lord he wants to return.

To be with them again. How do you get ready for that?

The bible speaks of making a road in the wilderness and making the hills flat.

Wow, that’s not easy.

Getting ourselves ready for Christmas can be hard, too.

To get your heart in the right place.

To establish a welcoming atmosphere and nurture an expectant spirit in the midst of Christmas turbulences – that’s really difficult.

But it starts with little things.

Taking steps towards a bigger thing.

Making a road in the wilderness, as long and dry as it may be.

Working on one hill at a time.

Practical preparation can help us with the spiritual preparation.

For me, Advent begins when we light the first candle at home and when we start baking Christmas cookies.

It might be in the middle of the week, in the midst of work and other challenges.

But the moment you put on that Christmas cassette (yes, cassette!) and roll out the dough – this is when Advent begins.

It is my first step towards Christmas.

It would be a shame not to share some of these sweet cookie outcomes…soon.

But before that I would like to hear from you: When does Advent start for you?

How do you prepare for Christmas?

[Five Minute Friday] Dear

This month I am doing a series on Advent and preparing ourselves for Christmas. You can find more info on the series here. Come and join us for a month of getting ready and waiting!

But it’s also Friday and I am linking up with Kate Motaung and many other fabulous writers. Come and join us!

For Advent, there’s another link-up over at Story and Table, hosted by Laura. If you’re interested in more Advent stories, click here.

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It’s that time of the year again.

Christmas is approaching soon and fast, so you need to get your presents and cards all set. My family always used to have wishlists we would hang up on the refrigerator.

Oh, what joy it was as children to scribble down all your wishes! And even greater joy when you found many of these things under the tree on Christmas Day.

We still do wishlists and I found it interesting to think a bit how they’ve changed with the years.

Dolls turned into books. Toys turned into clothes or perfume.

But overall, it has become more difficult each year to sit down and write my wishes.

What do I want for Christmas?

What do you want for Christmas?

We never really wrote letters to Santa, but how about writing a grown-up Christmas wish list?

Dear Santa,

When I look inside my heart I see longings.

Lots of longings.

I wish for deep joy that would not depend on what happens.

I wish for justice in this world.

Reconciliation and true peace.

I wish for the end of hunger and starvation.

The end of slavery and prostitution.

Freedom instead of human trafficking.

I wish for close friends who stay and don’t always leave.

I wish for honesty and growth.

I wish for security and safety in my life.

And in this world.

I wish to know where my path will lead and what my future will look like.

That’s a lot.

And as a I think about it I realize a “Dear Santa” won’t do it.

This isn’t just a Christmas wish list.

This is supposed to be a yearning turned into prayer.

Confession.

Intercession.

A wish list addressed to the One who sees everything, is in everything, and whose heart longs for these things probably as much as we do.

Not just on Christmas, but all year-round.

Dear Lord,

you know my heart that is so full of longings.

Ultimately, these longings point to you, the One who can fulfill all these longings.

Let Christmas come this year to the hungry, the suffering, the poor.

And let us trust you a bit more with this world and our lives.

[Five Minute Friday] Give

I cooked Thanksgiving Dinner for my family yesterday.
For the first time.
In Germany we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, but I enjoyed this tradition in the States, so I brought it over and thought my family would like it, too.

We should have Thanksgiving more often.

As I was standing in the kitchen almost all day I was really looking forward to the evening.
Eating lots of good food and spending time with family.
I didn’t look at all the work.
I didn’t look at all the time and energy I invested.
I was happy and excited to give.
Seeing their happy faces and hearing their “O my gosh, this is such good food! We should have Thanksgiving more often!” I was glad.
Giving can be so rewarding.

The thought that crossed my mind several times was, “We should invite more people.”
Not only is it good food, there’s something about sharing meals and fellowship you can’t really explain. It is a gift we accept and give not often enough.
Even though this world is in such desperate need of it.

While I was cooking I was reminded of a story in the bible.
A man prepares a big feast but none of his invited guests shows up.
Instead of pouting he goes and invites people from the streets. Strangers. People who really needed and enjoyed a good meal. People who made this feast a most memorable moment and probably turning point in this man’s life.

And if my table and hands are full – where are the people on the streets I can invite and give to?
Where is the lonely neighbor that might enjoy a night of fellowship?
Where is the stressed out mother that could really use a day off?
Where is the friend that needs cheering up in the form of turkey and apple pie?

Let’s be grateful that we can give.
It doesn’t take much to turn someone’s day around or make it better.
We have been given more than enough, and only if we give to others we realize the true joy of it.

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I am linking up with Kate Motaung’s Five Minute Friday today. Five Minutes of Writing. No Editing. Much sharing and encouraging.

[Five Minute Friday] Notice

I have a hobby I don’t always take the time for.
But when I do it, it’s always very fulfilling and interesting.
I like to watch people.
After a full day of shopping or just running around town, it feels good to sit down, have a cup of coffee, and just watch people.
The other day I met with a friend and we sat there for about two hours just watching.

We were in a new city, but even if you are in your own town you’ll notice so many things.
There are so many people on the streets you’ve never seen before.
Every day you walk these streets, and yet you’ll never be able to have seen everyone in this town!

There are single people. Couples walking hand in hand.
Wives dragging along their husbands into yet another shop.
There are children window shopping for toys and candy.
There are senior couples taking it slow.
There are three old ladies who enjoy a night out in town as if they were just 22 years old (these three seriously made me laugh and hope I will be like this one day!).

You notice so many things around you if you take the time to stand still for a while.
Each of these people has a story, a life behind this moment I get a glimpse of.
I am overwhelmed by seeing everyone.
Trying to figure out how they live, what brought them here today, how they might feel.

And then I am reminded of my heavenly Father who says of himself that he notices everything and everyone.
He sees more than a glimpse.
He sees your whole life, your deepest feelings, the full story.
And YOUR story matters to Him.

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It’s Friday, so I am linking up with a great group of writers over at Kate Motaung‘s place. Come on over and read some more inspirational thoughts!

[Five Minute Friday] Still

Do you hear that?
Nothing.
Silence.
Stillness.

This week has been somewhat strange.
After an immensely busy year it is the first time I paused.
After a year of studying I could wake up in the morning and do nothing. Or whatever I wanted.
Well, I got sick. Back pain kept me in bed for most of the week and I was forced to rest.
To be still.
And I realized I am really bad at it.

The thing I had yearned for was finally here.
That feeling I had looked forward to all year whenever things were just too much for me: “Soon you’ll be off and can be still”. Well, here it is.
And I don’t know how to handle it.
I am actually quite afraid of it.

I am between wanting and not wanting.
So wanting to get out of my busy life, away from the voices and tasks and things thrown at me.
Shutting off the sounds that make it impossible for me to hear what’s really important.
Being attentive to God’s whisper once again.
So anxious of really being still.
Cutting everything off and being left with…nothing.
Afraid that the stillness will not lead to something.
That God won’t show up.
That I am not willing to go far enough.

It is a challenge to be still.
It is hard to really seek stillness.
And yet I think we sometimes need to let go of the not wanting and walk towards the wanting.
Cut off some of the noise and expect HIM to come out of the stillness.
Because if I am still, really still, I can hear him calling.
Can you hear it, too?

(I am off for two months now before student teaching begins, and I am looking forward – with an incredibly anxious and wanting heart – to a time of rest and stillness. I don’t know what will happen, but I definitely want to try and listen to the call.)

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Once again I am linking up with a fabulous writer community over at Kate Motaung’s Five Minute Friday – come and join us!