Five Minute Friday: Opportunity

Today I'm joining my friend The Gypsy Mama for five minutes where I'll write without editing, backtracking, or second guessing.  Because in the writing? We see the blessings.


Today's topic?  Opportunity.


Ready, Set, Go....
             .   .   .   .   .

"Learn everything you can, anytime you can, from anyone you can - there will always come a time when you will be grateful you did." -Sarah Caldwell

July 2010

She taught me many things, that sweet sister who best described our relationship as familyship...

Listen far more than you speak

Hear with your heart

Cherish

Dream big dreams

What is frustrating in the moment may serve one well in the long haul

See everything in life as an opportunity

When you live your life as though everything is an opportunity, nothing becomes a true disappointment. I don't mean that disappointment does not occur...I just mean that it won't shatter you into a place that you cannot recover from. Ungluing happens. It is what we do when given the opportunity to be pieced back together that counts.

By seeing the beauty in the opportunities even the failed ones we come to see beauty in ourselves. In the broken. The messy. The mistakes and the triumphs alike....by seeing opportunity as a space where we can learn, we will never truly fail.

I am thankful for 

                          ...her perspective.

                                                          ...her friendship.

                                                                                      ...her laughter.

                                                                                                              ....her beauty.

It seems hard to fathom that it's only been twelve months. Twelve impossibly long-feeling months...Of knowing she was preparing to leave, letting her go and then striving to pick up the pieces of us she'd left behind. Throughout all of it, I've heard her strong voice...

See the blessing

Seek the beauty

Be gentle with yourself

Don't miss your moments

What she was saying? Really saying? She was reminding us that every moment is an opportunity.

Today I'm thankful for every single moment.

STOP

Piano Peace

My Little Joy feels music deeply. As a baby she would often sing what she was saying instead of actually speaking it.

When we purchased a piano for the chicks and began lessons two years ago, little did we know where music would transport her.

Our Grace Girl plays because it is required. She enjoys the keys and fingering and sound. But...she would rather be twirling.

For Little Bit, it's an entirely different ball game. Yes, she adores and chases in her leaping sister's footsteps, but her heart is equally attached to the ivories.

Two weeks ago she picked up "Fur Elise" and played it perfectly in her first sitting. No joke. I recorded it for posterity and for her teacher. She's since memorized it and has added some of her own flair.

Five Minute Friday: Identity

Today I'm joining my friend The Gypsy Mama for five minutes where I'll write without editing, backtracking, or second guessing.  Because in the writing? We work to find and see with the heart and not the mind.

Ready, Set, Go.....IDENTITY


I watch you, standing there in the midst of girls women-children that you consider your peers. Their ages eclipse yours, most by half a decade. These are your friends. Their height and weight make you appear waif-like, but you keep up with them all the same. Some even come to learn from you; you teach willingly and with a ready heart. Acceptance is what you seek in this place of yours that you've fought to create for yourself. Your passion lies here, in the leaping and twirling and rhythm of eight counts. 

Here you feel at home


I whisper to you as you sleep and repeat again and again while you are in the waking moments that this is not who you are...it's what you are gifted at. Yes, you use your body and spirit to create beauty in motion, but you? Well, you are our daughter; one created by the King to do and be and dream. I remind you that your identity lies in Him.


I hope you hear me. 


Growing up is a series of steps and leaps, much like your dancing. Learning choreography that is in tune with the world while using your artistic flair to sparkle. YOU are beautiful, just as you were created. Please, in this place we live in, don't lose sight of the lovely that is imprinted within you. 

Your identity is unique, set-apart, as rare as the numbered stars in the heavens. Make it yours. Don't rely on others to create it for you. 


Be you. 

From the inside out.


STOP