You know the drill. I’ll post this Five Minute Friday contribution, link on the Community section of the group’s Facebook presence at  fiveminutefriday.com and scan through the incredible work of my fellow writers. As I always say, you should try it as well — both writing and contributing or at least visiting the sites of this talented crew.

I’ve also been sharing other takes on the value of the exercise, taken from snippets found in Five Minute Friday: A Collection of Stories Written in Five Minutes Flat, compiled by Susan Shipe as an added inducement to join in. Here’s Alice’s take.

“Every Thursday night I try to stay up late, because there is a tiny excitement in knowing the FMF prompt! I let  the word sink in my mind as I go to get sleep and let the word bring thoughts, emotions and verses in my mind. It’s a beautiful thing, how a word can trigger so many thoughts! Most times I realize that the verses and passages and memories of the incident were lying waiting for this word to bring it back to life. I look forward to writing five minutes every Friday on a word, just one word, and not just that, but also reading and discovering the thought process of so many other bloggers who have dwelt on that same word!”

So, let’s get into this week’s word, HOW.  The clock starts ticking now …

The catechism tells us God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in heaven. As Christians, that doesn’t seem so unreasonable. We know God. We love God. We hope to be happy with God in heaven.

Ah, but now the rub. We’re to serve God in this world. That begs the big question: HOW.

We know we’re not perfect. We also know in our imperfection, we are often blinded by our biases, cultures, gender, station in life. The world around us — remembering we were born into it at this time and place — helps shape the world we are trying to serve. And, so, the big HOW.

I  wish I had an answer. I don’t … at least not one that makes sense. That’s because this particular time and place we are in, this season of our life, and our circles shape our thinking. If we were born in medieval times, or even a couple of generations ago, … STOP

… our worldview certainly would be different. Even in the days of Jesus — when we wouldn’t have been Christians, by the way — we most likely would have been looking for a different kind of Messiah, one who would liberate us in this world, and probably with little thought about eternity.

But we weren’t placed in the world then. We are placed in the world now, today, so the question again comes to how are we to serve in this world.

We can’t serve without change — and that begins with you and me. I will never pretend to understand the oppression others have experienced. Quite honestly, I never experienced it. I’ve read about it. I even researched some of it. But I never lived it. So, when I see the peaceful protests morph into lawlessness and looting, the message gets lost in my translation.

I — we — have to look beyond the darkness and look for the light. There is so much to celebrate in life — accomplishments, opportunities, walking together. We have to be willing to not only talk together but listen and work together. We have to switch our thinking from six square blocks of chaos in Seattle to the peace and tranquility of almost 84 square miles of the city.  We have to remember one bad action — be it law enforcement or law breakers — is not all inclusive. We have stop dividing and start uniting. Banning Civil War era films, tearing down statues, replacing one culture’s icons for another’s are not the answer.

For what it’s worth, my HOW is to always remember, there is no skin color in heaven — just the radiant glow of our universal Maker.

Please people, focus on the Light. Draw attention to the Light. Serve the Light … now more than ever in a season of dark.

THOUGHT TO REMEMBER: Yes, I am a dreamer. For a dreamer is one who can find his way by moonlight, and see the dawn before the rest of the world. — Oscar Wilde