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

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 (in the Community section at www.fiveminutefriday.com) 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 [you 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 OFFER. The timer is set so it’s time to GO …

I remember it vividly. We had just signed on the bottom line for a fireplace in our new home. The phone rang. I excused myself as my very pregnant wife continued talking with the salesman. On the phone was an employer offering me a positing 1,000 miles away in response to a resume I had sent a few months earlier and had long forgotten about.

I declined, explaining my role now was staying home with my wife until she delivered our latest addition. End of opportunity.

A few months later, after the birth of my son, I received a call form that same employer — offering me a different job. After a visit I accepted the offer — and it changed my professional life.

The incident reminded me of another time. This time, I accepted an offer — way back when I was a pre-teen receiving Confirmation. I reasoned if I was going to accept an offer from God, I should probably make sure I meant it. So I made a commitment to trust in the Lord at the ripe old age of 12.

Was I always successful? … STOP

… Of course not!

But since I accepted God’s offer, He steadfastly has stuck with me over the years  — even while I was backsliding. He’s loving like that.

You don’t have to wait for Confirmation or adult Baptism or any other formal event. You can accept the open offer of the Lord anytime. Trust me, as it did for me, His offer will change your spiritual life forever.

THOUGHT TO REMEMBER: So many dreams are waiting to be realized.