This post is part of the October 2018 Edition of 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes. I hope you”ll join me in seeing where each prompt takes us.
P.S. Just so you know, I’m finding it difficult to stick to five minutes (**) and it may take me longer than the 31 days to finish all the prompts. Not easy for this rule follower!
You can read more 31 Days entries at http://www.fiveminutefriday.com

Why Not?

Why not take care of two things at once?  The prompt for today’s 31 Days of Free Writes is “Why” and it’s time to post my September edition of “Four Somethings” so I’ve decided to combine them in to one! I love it when things come together!  Don’t you?

~Something Loved~

 

Do you ever find yourself asking the question “why”? I think we all do. It’s a question I don’t really like though, because most often there isn’t a ready answer. That was the case for me in September.  We’d been planning our beach vacation to our favorite spot in North Carolina for months; then Florence made her grand entrance and changed everything. Don’t get me wrong: I’m grateful to only have lost a trip and not my belongings or life but I wonder of all weeks, why the storm had to come then?

Enter my something loved! Once we were certain the rains from Florence weren’t going to threaten our home we decided to take a quick get-away and ended up in a little lakeside cabin in the woods. While we were disappointed that we missed out on the hours of playing on the beach with our grandsons, we LOVED the slow, quite pace our last minute destination provided.

“You can make many plans, but the LORD’s purpose will prevail.” Psalm 19:21 (NLT)

~Something Said~

My heart was so full that my eyes began to overflow. Why you ask? Three little words:
“Love you MiMi!” It’s not that I hadn’t heard them before, but they’ve always been repeated after being prompted to do so.** These precious three were said straight from his little mouth as a natural part of our conversation and did they ever have a big impact! Love always does, doesn’t it? Just think what an impact it would have on the world if we all would speak just a little more love!

“Three things will last forever~faith, hope, and love~and the greatest of these is love.”
1 Corinthians 13:13 (NLT)

~Something Learned~

Dear younger people reading this:  I’m fully prepared for your eye rolling and head shaking but here it goes anyway….

During a recent Twitter conversation I was reading, I learned that when typing, we are no longer supposed to double space at the end of a sentence. Who knew?  59 years old and I had NO idea!  It was stated that the double space was necessary because of the printing process back in the day and it is totally unnecessary  today.  If you look closely as you read my posts, I’m afraid you’ll find that most of the time I continue to double space between sentences. Why is it that I’m having such a hard time changing? Habit! Once we do something over and over (and over and over), Change. Is. Difficult. Unfortunately, it’s not just habits ingrained by stern typing teachers that are hard to break. Anyone out there know what I’m talking about?  That’s why we must watch our speech, our actions, and our thoughts carefully so as not to practice things we don’t want to become easy to repeat and hard to stop.

“And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing.  Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and lovely, and admirable.  Think about things that are excellent and worth of praise.”
Philippians 4:8 (NLT)

I’m glad I’ve learned that some old habits need to be changed but it won’t be easy for this sit up straight, feet on the floor, fingertips poised, A+ typing student! (I know, I know eyes are rolling …again…)

~Something Read~

 

I’ve always loved to read but for some reason I haven’t been doing much of it lately.  I’m not sure why. For my birthday though, I received (from my mom who’s love for reading passed on to me) several books and so, on the above mentioned cabin holiday I once again enjoyed the luxury of reading to my heart’s content. Sitting beside the lake, I became lost in the pages of “The Solace of Water” by Elizabeth Byler Younts. A story of struggle, pain, prejudice, and ultimately friendship: it’s not the typical feel good, “Hallmark happy ending” book I usually choose; but the riveting stories of each character and how they intertwined drew me in and made it hard to put down.  Set in the 50’s it mirrors our search for solace today and shares the important message of forgiveness. If you’re looking for your next read, I recommend you add “The Solace of Water” to your list!

“Now, however, it is time to forgive and comfort him.  Otherwise he may be overcome by discouragement.” 2 Corinthians 2:7 (NLT)

There you have it! Despite setbacks and disappointments, these “Four Somethings” helped make my September a good one!  Why don’t you share your “Four Somethings” in the comments? I’d love to hear them!  Also you can go over to http://www.heathergerwing.com to read other’s September editions.