Five minute Friday.com is a site where Christian writers focus on one word prompt a week and write for five minutes or less. Just whatever comes.
Today's word is 'collect'

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Mt 6:19-21

I’m not ready for new memories. Right now it is easier to look ahead and see empty space than to stare behind and see broken dreams. My view has to go further than my mind can remember and beyond where my thoughts can take me. Although moments are precious in God's sight, let Him sort it all out and keep what is useful. I know He collects tears from every one.

My hope is not in what I have collected. Rather it is in that which cannot be destroyed.

I’m late for fiveminutefriday. This is Monday. Adding my short input on the word comfort.

A Comfortable Place

I look for the most comfortable position when I sit down to write. My chair and the way it supports me and holds me is important. I need to have all my books, my pens, pencils and tablet situated for easy access. And of course let’s not forget the coffee, iced or hot, depending on temperature and time of day. Then the quiet has to be there. Natural sounds only please, as much as possible. Birds, wind and rain all add to my attention. They don't diminish it.

Recently I parked at the cemetery early in the morning to pray and to practice a song I was to sing at church. It’s an old hymn titled “In the Garden.” As I prayed over the words I sensed the comfort of God. Strange, for visiting cemeteries can be so despairing. But that morning God said, “Here you are alone with me, for though every marker bears a name and a timeline, every person is in his rightful place. Do not worry, just be comforted. And I was alone with God in the cemetery.

But there were flowers that adorned the stones. Some were potted, some planted. They were growing. I thought of a garden. Flowers grow in stillness and quietness. They only received what others give them. The sun and rain make them flourish as their roots grow deep. And some last only a day, some a season, and some return year after year. Sometimes you find them where the wind or birds have scattered the seed.

I wonder if the quiet, still places of the heart, where God comforts us is where we do the most growing. In both adults and children that comfortable stage of sleep is where growth happens. The rejuvenation of energy, the sorting out of memories, the strengthening of cells and muscles take place while the body is in a semi paralytic state. It is not when we are most active. It is why we can be active.

In the garden and in the cemetery, among the growing and the memories of a people that were, there God's voice speaks and comforts us as He supports and holds us. That covers just about everywhere we go.

Participating with Kate Motaung. Check her out at fiveminutefriday.com.  The word is play

Come Out To Play

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Mt 19:14

The daylilies are back this year. The orange ones that for years I fussed about. I wanted them gone. The were intrusive, they were all one color, and anything else I planted alongside them were overrun and eventually completely suffocated. They also weren’t my idea. They were here when we moved in. So I finally had them uprooted. I planted other lilies in their place of different colors and varieties. I still loved lilies. I just wanted variety.

But there were problems. The Chipmunks, moles and mice ate the bulbs. So I planted again, this time each with a mothball. A couple grew the first year, and a few more the next. But then, just last year the rabbits found them and ate every last bloom. I guess colors taste good. So I've had it, I thought. This year the ground will sit. Gardens aren't working for me. The only plant that has survived well is my bleeding heart, which was transplanted from where those day lilies were. It sits in front of my garage, which is falling down, so we just moved that also.

Now I look out my window and there are orange blooms playing in the breeze, aimed at the sky, free and happy to  have returned. They were not completely rooted out. They lie dormant for a while covered with layers of other growth. But they weren't dead, their roots were growing strong and resilient.

The child in me longs to play. What has been growing in her place? I've heard it said we grow up because we stop playing. Both is important. Someone once gifted me $30. She said I was to spend it frivolously. I put it in an envelope and it took about 3 years to spend it. I don't even remember if I spent it all. I think that envelope is still around. It’s not that I haven’t spent anything. I think It's the thought of spending what has been designated and gifted for that purpose and the fear of never having it again.

We layer, we bury, we forget. God does not forget. Sometimes it takes everything being ripped apart to unearth the inner child we were created to be. Jesus calls us children no matter how old we get and whatever or whoever has prevented her. She is not gone. She is growing strong  and resilient. No one is free like a child who knows she is loved. When I experience that freedom, maybe even my responsibility will be as child's play.

Oh, a few of the red lilies survived with the orange ones. They will play together. The rabbits moved out. I am at peace.