Here’s this week’s installment of Five Minute Friday.

This week’s prompt is ACCEPT. The timer is set … so here goes. {clock starts now}

My first thought when the  prompt surfaced was The Serenity Prayer written by the American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr. The best-known form is:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

Courage to change the things I can,

And wisdom to know the difference.

It’s a powerful reminder every day. Accept what I can’t change. Change what I can. KNOW THE DIFFERENCE.

Isn’t it ironic we often transpose those sentences? We try to change the things we can’t change. We accept the things we can change. And we certainly don’t have the wisdom to know the difference.

I try to keep Niebuhr’s words at the fore of my thought, but also fall to the trap of worrying about things I can’t change. Worry does no good. As they say, it robs us of joy.

I think today would be a good day to imprint those words — Niebuhr’s words — in our mind and heart. Perhaps we should look at those words daily, through a plaque or even just a sticky note. After all … STOP

… it was part of a sermon. And it would be a shame to leave the message in the pew.

Well, that’s what popped into this mind this week.

You might remember the task is to write for five minutes on a specific prompt word. The initiative was started by Lisa-Jo Baker  who thought about writing and how often our perfectionism gets in the way of our words. She figured, why not take five minutes and see what comes out: not a perfect post, not a profound post, just five minutes of focused writing. She turned over the reins to Kate Motaung, where our faithful writers write, and share it with others at her place on Facebook at http://www.fiveminutefriday.com. It’s free. It’s easy (okay, not always). It’s addictive (in a good way). You should visit and check it out or — better yet — join in the fun of expressing yourself!

As an extra enticement, I’ve been using testimonials about the group and the exercise from other members as collected in Five Minute Friday: A Collection of Stories Written in Five Flat. This week’s it’s Anna. I encourage you to listen to the words and visit Kate and her wonderful corps of writers … and maybe be inspired to join in!

“Five Minute Friday taught me to go with my gut, not second-guessing myself but trusting in the words God brought forth when I focused in for five minutes. FMF meant freedom in my writing. FMF is a community of cheerleaders, encouraging one another in love. It’s a soft place for the hearts of writers to land each week. I’ve never found another community like FMF — one that consistently welcomes without question or judgment, one that inspires others to keep pressing in to their words, one that so faithfully assembles each week. Five Minute Friday is a one-of-a-kind beautiful presence online.”

THOUGHT TO REMEMBER: Do, or do not. There is no “try” — Yoda