It’s time for this week’s Five Minute Friday. The prompt is LIFE.

But first, if you haven’t been following FMF, it’s never too late to join us — every week or even just occasionally. It’s really a fun way to see how your mind reacts to a one word prompt and converts them into letters, words and sentences in just five minutes (more or less). But more important, it’s the encouragement we give to and get from our fellow writers that makes this such a valuable exercise. We get to “know” each other, support each other, lift each other up, pray for each other. It may not be in real life … but it’s certainly in real heart. It’s not just a writing group. It’s a community.

As an example, to entice you to check us out, I’ve also been sharing some of the experiences my fellow writers have shared as chronicled in Five Minute Friday: A Collection of Stories Written in Five Minutes Flat. This week, I’ll include the words contributed by Brandi. I hope her words inspire you to join our writing club.

“I joined the Five Minute Friday link up only a few short months after staring my blog. I’m not even sure how I came upon it, but the open invitation from Lisa-Jo Baker [who started the community] caught my eye and I couldn’t resist giving it a shot. Writing was new to me, voicing my thoughts and feelings onto a public place was both freeing and frightening. I wanted to write, but wasn’t sure I really could. Until Five Minute Friday. I felt like the new kid in school standing with a tray of food in the school cafeteria. I was unsure of myself and most definitely nervous about letting people into the thoughts in my head. Yet, with open arms I was welcomed at the table with instant friends. They encouraged, we giggled, we cried, and I grew. Five Minute Friday gave me a place to be. I learned to listen to my heart and trust my fingers as I spelled out thoughts and stories and I found my heart. I learned to laugh at the mishaps and grow in my abilities to communicate. This was more than a regular link up, this was fertile soil for my dreams.”

Okay. The timer has been waiting to be set, so let’s GO…

Boy, I struggled with this one. My life? Life in general? The meaning of life? The substance of life?

I concluded it should be a combination of all of those and then some.

I was drawn to the fact a 15 month old baby recently died after an accident. In contrast, there was a 97 year old friend who finally went to her final reward. Why am I still around, while my wife’s life was cut short?

I don’t have the answers. But I concluded — whether it’s 15 months, 60 years or 97 years, each life had/has a purpose. It might have been the death — or the death march — that becomes the shining beacon. And I believe there is always a purpose to every life.

For me, each breath in and out is a blessing. So it is incumbent upon me to use each of the breaths as a ... STOP

… witness to the value of a God-filled life.

Do I always succeed?

No.

But when I wake up in the morning, my first prayer is to ask God to show me His path for the day, to unveil His plans for me to advance His kingdom, to allow me to use my words and actions to soften hardened hearts and encourage and support other believers.

That’s what life is all about. Each life is a gift. What are we going to do with it?

THOUGHT TO REMEMBER: Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear. — George Addair

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