{Five Minute Friday | Reflect}
It's Friday. Five Minute Friday. That means unplanned, unedited, straight-from-the-heart-to-the-paper writing. Yep, you just write whatever comes out based on a word you're given. If you have five minutes, you should give it a try! Find out how here.
Ready? GO.
Reflect.
I suppose it's the thing to do this time of year. That is when we give ourselves permission to be still and unplug from the busyness of the season. It's hard sometimes, though. The tricky, sometimes messy, business of looking backwards and reflecting can leave you overwhelmed with feelings of discontentment and disappointment. Anyone else?
Yeah, it's been a long year. Here are two things I know.
- Gratitude squashes disappointment. I've found I simply cannot be grateful and disappointed at the same time. A grateful heart does not carry the weight of unmet expectations. A grateful heart is not an entitled heart. Disappointment thrives in the fertile soil of entitlement and unmet expectations. A grateful heart leaves no room for that. Besides, it could be worse. So. Much. Worse.
- What you reflect on determines what you reflect out - proper perspective is everything! (That made total sense in my head. But, no editing!) When reflection comes from a place of gratitude then a grateful heart is what I reflect out and into the lives of those around me. A happy heart makes for a cheerful face and one's life reflects one's heart (says Scripture somewhere in Proverbs). I want to reflect out the things that give life and encourage and effectively point people in the direction of Jesus. Always.
Yeah. So, that's my goal as I reflect, to keep my heart tender and free from the bitterness of unmet expectations and disappointment. More than anything I want to reflect out something that says "she knows the unfathomable love and grace of The Father." Because I do. That's the common thread that weaves beautifully through the story of my life and holds it all together. It holds me all together. The love of an unchanging, faithful Father. It changes everything. It changes what you reflect on and what you reflect out.
STOP.