It’s Five Minute Friday and I am joining Lisa-Jo Baker and other FMF girls to write flat out for five minutes. No editing, no polishing, and then linking up together. I am loving this challenge! I hope you enjoy it too! Check out what Five Minute Friday is all about here!
EXHALE
GO…
Summer time…
Long days stretching widely from dawn until dusk
Sunshine reaching for miles and warming us with heat and humidity
Moments with family and friends turning into memories to be stored to tide us through the long winter
Slow, lazy pace of no-schedule days that linger and melt together into the next day
Summer feels like one, big E X H A L E (feel the breath escaping)
www.passagethroughgrace.com
It’s the ebb and flow of the ocean reflecting a clear, turquoise colored sky
It’s the rhythm of knowing that life does not need to be rushed but savored like a double-dip ice cream cone.
EXHALE the stress, breathe in God! Let Him become your next inhale. Deeply breathe in God’s grace and goodness so it fills every pore and washes over you! Allow God to become the inhale to your exhale! Allow each breath to be God’s whisper of love touching your heart and your exhale will restore you with all you were meant to be.
This summer let your exhale make room for God to breathe His life into you!
God, the Master, told the dry bones, “Watch this: I’m bringing the breath of life to you and you’ll come to life. I’ll attach sinews to you, put meat on your bones, cover you with skin, and breathe life into you. You’ll come alive and you’ll realize that I am God!” Ezekiel 37:5-6 MSG
STOP
How will you exhale and make room for God this summer?
Blessings,
Mary
Blessed to be linking with:
     
Thanks for sharing a great post! I’ve been meaning to try the Five Minute Friday for a long time and I think I will this week! Thanks again! <3
I love the challenge and freedom of writing only five minutes. There is not too much time to fret over every little word and to me that is freeing. Hope you dived in and tried it! Blessed you stopped by!
This makes me want to really delight in these summer days…and the Lord. Blessings!
I pray we all delight in long summer days and feel and see God’s glory on all. Blessed you stopped by!
Thank you for helping me to stop and breathe Him in. Love you!
Love you too, Barbie! So glad that we are reminded how to exhale-let it go- and restore with the love of Christ.
So glad you have the summer to exhale!! It’s the way I feel about a sabbath day…a day to stretch and breathe and do nothing of consequence! 🙂
There’s nothing like a day, a season or even a short moment that becomes one big exhale. Knowing that schedules can be forgotten and the time is yours to enjoy is a blessing. Thank you for stopping by and encouraging me, friend!
July 3 Fireworks party in our community.
Surrounded by kids and grandkids, brothers and sisters, nieces, nephews, grand nieces ansd nephews. Love is palpable. God has blessed us.
Laughter on the deck, kids in bounce house and water slide in yard. Fun is also palpable.
Fireworks begin…neighborhood comes alive with the spectacle. Community is palpable.
I look around…all my family cuddled together in the cool night air watching the night sky burst forth with color and vibration.
My Friday flash.
God has blessed us all. Family, community, and Nation. God bless America.
I love these word pictures you shared. God has blessed you with family and friends and the opportunity to enjoy both. Happy 4th of July to you, my friend!
I love that verse from Ezekiel… that’s just the icing on the cake for me. You read my mind (I started in Genesis!) and then took it one step further. What a promise: ‘You’ll realise that I am God!’
I too loved the verse from Ezekiel. So many times I choose verses from the New Testament because I feel they have a wider reach but blessed I found this verse that truly says what needed to be said. So glad you stopped by to join in the conversation. Happy weekend to you!
Perfectly said. And perfect for my current state of healthy rest, finishing my book, and leaning fully on and into His inhale to my soul.
I hope your holiday is *booming* good fun, Mary!! 🙂
Heather I’m so glad you took a little break from your busyness and stopped by! Praying hard for your book and ensuing ministry. Happy 4th to you too!
This was lovely. My first Five Minute Friday for the fourth and it was definitely a great read! Tonight, I will inhale and exhale with more purpose and thoughtfulness.
Sue-I’m blessed by your kind words! Praying we all experience moments of complete exhale and in the empty space all of God’s goodness wiggles in. Happy 4th!
Oh I love this… and that we are neighbors, my kindred friend… how perfect!
Thank you dear! I’m praying hard that Allume is in your future! We empty nesters need to stick together! May your exhale become God’s inhale today and everyday! Happy 4th!
Oh how I wish my summer had brought a chance to “Exhale”! 🙂 Thank you for the reminder that the LORD is our Rest.
Oh Courtney! I’m praying that your summer has many moments of complete exhale and you feel God’s presence in all you do. I am a teacher so summer has always held the promise of exhale moments. Happy weekend to you! Blessed you stopped by!
I want to exhale all the fear and all the sorrow so that I have room in my lungs to breathe in the indescribable fragrance of our great God!
Praying that God blesses you with a huge exhale of your fear and sorrow today and everyday. Blessed you stopped by and blessed by your honest words at your blog! Happy 4th!
I love the passage of scripture you quoted. Your post is a great reminder to exhale! Enjoy your weekend!
Thank you Jennifer! I love stumbling upon a scripture that is perfect but not one that is overly familiar. I always need a reminder to know that God is with me! Blessed you stopped by! Happy weekend to you too!
Mary,
I enjoyed your post today, and I feel it goes hand in hand with the one I just wrote as well. Great minds think alike!
Blessings from your FMF pal.
Shirley
Shirley – thanks for stopping by and for your encouragement. Prayers for all that our exhale allows room for God’s inhale and we feel His peace in our loves. Happy 4th!
You’ve worked hard this year, my new friend, and you deserve every minute you can get to relax, exhale, and enjoy the fruit of your labors. What a blessing you are to so many!
;-}
The act of exhaling involves a letting go and if we all do it right we will have plenty of room for the goodness of God to fill the space just emptied! Thank you for your kind words! You are a blessing to me! Love you girl!