Write 31 Days 32
Little
31 Days of Practicing Faith
In October, I am free writing for five minutes a day—raw and unedited—on practicing faith in the every day. Each day is based on a different prompt from 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes.
{Day 16} - Little
I was always the smallest in my class. A combination of the fact that it was in my genes to be petite and that my birthday was the cut-off for students entering kindergarten at age 4, there was a guarantee that "shrimp," "runt," and "little bit" were nicknames I would acquire in school. In dance, I skipped ahead a couple years as well and so by the time I got into the company, I was always the one at the end of the kickline or the front of the group. I sometimes stood out because of my size but I often was looked over.
It took me many years to realize my size had very little to do with my life. I was never created to be little.
My voice was anything but tiny. Full of volumes of words and a volume to match, my spoken and written words commanded attention.
Adorned with fiery red hair and a temper to match, I was little but mighty.
When I finally held that passport in my hands and stepped into the wide world, I felt smaller than ever. But at the same time I knew that with my Jesus living in me, I could take on the world.
He had created me with a big spirit and a big voice, a big hope and big dreams.
There's a little girl who looks remarkably like me. She is the smallest in all her classes and though her hair blonde hangs long and straight, she has the fire of a redhead inside of her. She weaves words into stories and pictures into art. She prays with abandon and sings at the top of her lungs.
Daughter, know this now. You are little. Your God is big.
You were created to live big! Don't ever forget it.
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Move
31 Days of Practicing Faith
In October, I am free writing for five minutes a day—raw and unedited—on practicing faith in the every day. Each day is based on a different prompt from 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes.
{Day 15} - Move
I don't know if movement feels so freeing to me because I am a dancer or if I became a dancer because I was born with something inside of me drawn to the freedom in moving my body through space. I have loved dance since I was a little girl and as much as I enjoy watching a beautiful performance, nothing compares to being in the studio or on the stage myself.
I can't explain the way time and everything in the world falls away when I dance. Some people talk about the fourth wall needed as a performer. That is where you train yourself not to see the audience so that you can focus on the performance. That was never an issue for me. When I was on stage it was like everybody else in the world melted away and it was just me and the music.
I don't dance much these days except for fun in my own home. But I have found that I am still drawn to many other types of movement. The rhythms of yoga and pilates stretch me to my limits and I look forward to pushing past them. Walking becomes my communing with God in nature as I speak to Him and admire His handiworks. Don't laugh - zumba is my dancing these days and I love the way I can easily pick up the patterns and fall into them, feeling a certain control over my body that feels less controllable as I age.
In my life movement has been for me, for the audience, for God. It has been a past time, an idol, and finally a conversation with God. Whether I was created to move or I found it on happy accident, I am grateful.
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31 Days of Practicing Faith
In October, I am free writing for five minutes a day—raw and unedited—on practicing faith in the every day. Each day is based on a different prompt from 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes.
{Day 14} - Mail
I mounted my bike and headed down the dusty driveway. The sunlight glinted in patches between the Live Oaks that framed the drive. By the time I reached the mailbox my curls were already sticking to me, the Mississippi humidity as thick as the smell of earth after the rain on the bayou.
The door creaked as I opened it and I smiled as I held the newest postcard in my hands. The photo on the front showed a castle this time. She had made it to Scottland.
My best friend was traveling in Europe before she settled for a few months in the UK and every week a new offering arrived for me. The photograph would tell me which country she was in and her words would be short, but I treasured every one.
I tucked the card into a notebook I had started to catalog her entire journey. I planned to give it back to her when she arrived home, a kind of journal of her year abroad.
I looked forward to those words like they were water in a parched desert. Each one gave me a small glimpse into her days spent far away but it was enough. As I stood on the dock looking over the misty waters, I sent a prayer to her as she stood far away somewhere upon the moors.
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Aware
31 Days of Practicing Faith
In October, I am free writing for five minutes a day—raw and unedited—on practicing faith in the every day. Each day is based on a different prompt from 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes.
{Day 13} - Aware
There is this awareness in the back of my mind every moment of the day. I may not be consciously thinking about our upcoming move but it motivates every decision. My eyes are more open to the opportunities around me—to each "last" that presents itself, to each precious moment I want to soak in before it is too late.
My sister asked us out to eat. We normally try to save money and don't eat out much, but I said we will go without hesitation. On the drive to the restaurant, my husband and I talked about how it is about being with family and not about the actual meal. Time with them is more important than saving a few dollars now.
When I was asked what I wanted for my birthday my thoughts didn't turn to all the items we need for our international move. I told my family allI really wanted was a weekend in the North Georgia mountains. I wanted to see the leaves change in all their fiery glory, to pick apples alongside my parents, and to hold my kids tight as the hayride bumps over the uneven hills of a pumpkin patch.
I stop to notice the moments I missed before. I find time for a six-hour dinner with a friend, for coffee out on the back porch while the kids play, for carving pumpkins with my daughter's second-grade class. The days are still flying by but I try to grab hold of them for just a little bit longer before they slip through my fingers. As the days count down and each opportunity could be the last time, at least for a couple years, to meet a friend or see a fall sunrise—I am aware of it. My choices are based on seizing every opportunity I can.
I wish it hadn't taken leaving to open my eyes to the beauty all around me...
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Sky
31 Days of Practicing Faith
In October, I am free writing for five minutes a day—raw and unedited—on practicing faith in the every day. Each day is based on a different prompt from 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes.
{Day 12} - Sky
I've been trying to pinpoint what about fall brings me such joy. Who doesn't love jumping in piles of leaves, corn mazes and hay rides, apple picking, and all things pumpkin? But that's not it. Even if I don't do any of the typical fall activities, there is a calm that seems to come over my soul this time of year. That first morning that I step out the door and feel that familiar crispness in the air, I just breathe out an audible sigh of relief.
I was sitting on my front porch trying to write this weekend. It was the first day that required a sweater and I just had to be outside. I balanced my laptop on the small table in front of me and pulled the blanket up around me. I kept trying to focus on the words I was supposed to be writing but my eyes kept wandering off to the horizon.
The sky was clear blue with not a cloud in sight. The sun was shining bright, beaming down a permeating warmth that allowed me to pull back the blanket. I realized how unique the fall sky is. The summer sky can be cruel, the sun beating down so that we retreat inside. The winter sky so often is so often full of ominous clouds, threatening to send down piercing ice.
But the fall sky is warm, clear, kind. After a brutal summer there is the fall sky beckoning us back outdoors. The warm and clear blue reminds me of the kindness of God when He brings us peace in the harsh seasons of life. The sun may be beating down on us but He is the cool, crisp breeze that sends peace into our weary souls.
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