Is everybody ready for Five Minute Friday?

It’s where our group of writers [okay most of them, often we have Saturday and Sunday stragglers, myself included] gather  to write unscripted for five minutes on a specific word prompt. Our prompt is diligently supplied by Kate Motaung. After we post, we link up on Facebook at http://www.fiveminutefriday.com to share our pearls of wisdom or our pig’s ears and mix and mingle.

I’ve been sharing snippets taken from Five Minute Friday: A Collection of Stories Written in Five Minutes Flat. They are a testament to the value of the exercise. This week, I’ll share some perspective from Dianne. I hope she inspires you to check us out … and maybe join in?

“The FMF community is not virtual! It’s a real, living community — especially on Thursday nights with the FMF Twitter Party. I remember one time when I was struggling with a particular teenager issue. A mom with kids just older than my own encouraged me in the sweetest way. She gave me hope! Love my #fmfparty family!”

Yes. It’s a great creative outlet. Not everything is perfect … but neither are we. It’s always eye-opening. You should check out the site and see for yourself … or better yet, try it yourself.

The prompt this week is BLESSING and the timer is set, so let’s GO…

I have been blessed. I’ve had almost 60 full decades of blessings … a 40 year successful marriage … five children … 18 grandchildren …two great-granddaughters … the ability to own my own business for over 20 years . The blessings just kept coming and coming and coming.

But…

It always wasn’t fully understood. As I’ve aged, I have able to retroactively look back at life and its blessings. While actually going through the day-to-day business of life, though, all too often I succumbed to the temptation of looking past the blessings and staring dead on with the foils of life. And that comes from someone who has been programmed — both innately and conditionally — to look for the good in things {I call it the half full viewpoint}.

Looking back, you have to work hard to count your blessings … really hard. It’s too easy to take things — and people — for granted, to …STOP

…take the easy way out or shortcuts that blunt out the blessings all around us. So, you really have to work at it — every day, every minute of every day.

I try to share nuggets of hope with friends and family, but the truth is these daily “thoughts” are just as much for me. No, they are designed for me, forcing me to remember to look for the little blessings all around. I just share them with others.

It’s too easy to let the thorn detract from the beauty of the rose … the majesty of clouds as they pour down rain … to skip by the children or your spouse in the name of “work”.

I’ve been blessed. But most of all because I realize it!

THOUGHT TO REMEMBER: God doesn’t call the qualified. He qualifies the called.