Blog writers often have no office. We just sit down and write — through good times, bad times, joyful times, stressful times. So it’s not surprising our little Five Minute Friday community hasn’t let the uncertainties of the times stifle our creativity.

You know the drill. We get our weekly prompt, let the spirit flow for five minutes, post, link up in the Community section at fiveminutefriday.com, and — best part — visit other writers to support and encourage each other.

For the past few months, I have also been sharing testimonials from community writers as outlined in Five Minute Friday: A Collection of Stories Written in Five Minutes Flat, compiled by Susan Shipe. This week, I’ll share some words from Nickolee’s heart.

“God used FMF in my life to teach me how to show myself grace. All the second, third and fourth read-throughs were gone and my heart was able to be shared. FMF changed the way I write — it helped me be vulnerable with my readers and myself.”

Yes. We all have a story to tell. This community is a perfect place to start … especially since we know Who is in control!

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

What do Cora L. V. Hatch, Thomas Sheridan, George Whyte-Melville,  A. B. Kendig, Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Bertha Calloway, Jimmy Dean, Dolly Parton, and Thomas S. Monson have in common?

Well, they each are credited with uttering a version of the phrase, “We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.”

I don’t  know who actually uttered the words first, but I do know — not only during this pandemic — we should be constantly adjusting our sails to follow the wind and keep us moving forward. Of course, in these times, the wind is the Holy Spirit who continuously keeps us on course, no matter the weather, the circumstances, or the trials of the day.

I was also reminded of football — all sports really, but football in particular. I posted about the “xx’x and oo’s and the Game of Life” way back in 2013 {I was reminded of the post because it will be an inclusion in the my next volume of Wisdom From a Father … one dad’s thoughts on life}. The point of the post was how coaches and players, in this case … STOP

… in football. It takes 11 players — 11 players — on offense and 11 players — 11 players — on defense battling it out in the trenches with a support staff of special teamers, back-ups and coaches all working in unison. And it’s the coaches who call the plays and make the adjustments. The key is working together.

That sounds a lot like life. We come up with a game plan {hopefully in sync with our Coach}, hone our skills, involve others. But the snow starts to fall or the wind picks up or we lose our job or funds start to dry up or we get sick or someone else on the team gets sick or … or … or …

We still have the game plan, but do we make the adjustments? Our Coach may be screaming the changes, but are we listening? Are our xx’s and oo’s restricting us? Do we feel we have to be the “hero”? Can we make subtle adjustments within our scheme to reflect real time conditions?

Successful teams do. Successful people do.

We, as Christians, have, literally, the best Coach in the universe. And we have a rock-solid play book. We know what to do, how to do it, when to do it. But while play books may have the xx’s and oo’s down pat, we still have to play the game in real time and in real conditions. If our pass is intercepted, if the ball is fumbled, if we slip on the turf, how do we react? Do we pick ourselves up, learn from the mistake, make the subtle adjustment and continue with our game plan? Or do we start to second guess ourselves, start overthinking, make the same mistake over and over, stop listening to the Coach?

I think you can learn a lot about those xx’s and oo’s. But I think you can learn more from the adjustments.

THOUGHT TO REMEMBER: Stay away from negative people. They have a problem for every solution.