It’s Friday! It’s Five Minute Friday time! And it’s Friday!

It doesn’t take much to excite me, I guess, but to actually get the time on a Friday to post with this amazing group, well, it’s priceless.

You know the drill. We receive the prompt from Kate, we ponder it in out heart, turn it over to the mind and let the fingers do the skipping to the tune of the day. Then we mingle at Kate’s place (http://katemotaung.com/2017/03/02/five-minute-friday-purpose/) to share our work, peruse the work of others (pretty amazing stuff) and offer a word of two of encouragement.

You know how much I appreciate this treasured time and I’ve asked you to join in [your really, really should]. But I thought I would add some additional incentive from my fellow writers. Taken from snippets in Five Minute Friday: A Collection of Stories Written in Five Minutes Flat, perhaps their words about what Five Minute Friday has meant to them will inspire you to give it a chance. Here is what Marisa had to say:

“Five Minute Friday began as a free-write and has turned into a weekly family reunion, where we talk chocolate, books, illness, health and even mourn, we ask for and give prayers while being wholly in God’s presence. It is where the broken-raw and messy-beautiful united with the faith that God will make all things right.”

The prompt this week is PURPOSE. The timer is set so it’s time to GO …

We all have a purpose. Often, we don’t know what that purpose is or at least, recognize it. But we all have a purpose … something that makes us us, creations of God.

You see, it’s not really our purpose. It’s God’s purpose for us. That’s what we don’t quite understand. He has put us in our circumstances for a reason … perhaps to witness to someone or receive witnessing from someone … perhaps to slow us down or speed us up … perhaps to let us grow or help someone else grow. He has a purpose for us, right here, right now.

I’ll be honest, when I was younger — much younger — I didn’t realize what my purpose — His purpose — was. I generally went through the motions plying my trade and connecting with my little circle of family and friends.

But I’ve learned to recognize there is a greater purpose in play. All the good times, all the bad times, all the laughter, all the tears were designed to hone my spirit into recognizing His purpose for my life.

I still don’t always get it right. I sometimes get the “my” and “His” mixed up, but as I’ve aged, I have come to realize every thing I do impacts someone else. Every thing I say impacts others. Every thing I write touches others — often unknown to me.

It’s our responsibility to use the talents we are given — the talents. There is no job too small done right that honors our God.

It’s not just our jobs. It’s our purpose. It’s His purpose. And it isn’t just our jobs. It’s our relationships. It’s how we deal with other people … those we love and those we aren’t quite as fond of.

It’s taken me a while to realize that. We’re all interconnected. Everyone we meet — in person or through the virtual media — is a fellow journeyman (or woman) on this walk through life. We touch each other in ways we can’t imagine. They touch us the same way. We share ideas (or reject ideas) and our … STOP

… personalities shine through. Well, that’s not entirely true. It’s not our personality. It’s the personality forged by the strengths and the weaknesses and the smiles and the tears God has given us.

Be unique. Shine. Our mission, our purpose, after all, is to reflect the work of our Creator. It’s not to forge our own path for our glory. It’s to forge a path for His glory.

THOUGHT TO REMEMBER: Without encouragement life is like Cheerios without milk. The round circles of oats just sit on the bottom of the bowl. Add the milk and they are lifted to the top.