Surrender to a moment

Linking up late for Five Minute Friday over at Kate Motaung's blog. This week's prompt is "surrender". 


God, thank you for Mr. Cardinal who just swooped by and flew to a branch in Mr. Evergreen. He's been sitting there for at least a minute, bobbing up and down on the tree branch swaying in the wind.  It's definitely as if he's there on assignment from You to me. 

He's still there. In all of his red gloriousness. 
Feathers standing out against the green back drop. 

Now, it's close to two minutes. He's still there. 

What is he thinking about? Does he know he's brought me to tears because of his presence? I surrender to this moment in time where this beauty has flown in and perched right in my view.

He's still there. It's got to be three minutes. 

My tears are flowing freely in gratitude for this gift that has lifted me out of rumination to gratitude and awe. He's perfectly content in his world. Surveying in silence and stillness, he looks to be the King of his kingdom. His feathers puffed out in contentment, he must feel safe.

Probably almost four minutes now, of his presence in my evergreen.

His contentment and presence startles me. 

Startling me out of negativity and into joy and peace and the thought that all is well and all will be well.

He knows he's enough just as he is.
I know that I'm enough, too.

This pause has unraveled anxiety about what is to come. I've been instead invited into the moment that is.

I surrender.

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Blessings to you, 
Anne

in the here and now

Linking up with other writers today over at Kate Motaung's place for Five Minute Friday. Some weeks the words come easily and some weeks they don't. Five Minute Friday is all about writing for five minutes, not worrying about fancy edits. Just writing for the fun of it. Come on over and see what everyone else wrote on the prompt, "here". 

What if we all could live in the here and now.

I mean, now is all we have.

If we live in the past, either pining for a great past, or living in regret, it’s a waste of time and steals from the joy in the present moment.

If we live in the future (I’ve tried this), it’s called anxiety…being fearful over things that haven’t even happened yet. And, likely won’t happen the way my over active imagination has imagined it.

Here and now.

Focusing on the present moment is all we have.

Living in the here and now is something that I’m striving to do each day. I wish I could tell you that I’m a pro at it.

I can tell you that I’m a pro at trying.

I tend to live in the future, worrying over things I have no control over.

What if?

Such a bad choice of words if the negative is behind them, but what a good choice of words, if the positive is behind them.

What if I excel at ________________?

What if this relationship improves?

What if I get that project completed in record time?

Instead, I’m afraid to say that the end of “what if” leaves more questions than answers and leaves me living not in the here and now, but in the what if and when.

How about you? What kinds of things do you do to live in the here and now?

Painting and being creative helps me, as do fountains and reading my Bible. (an interesting grouping of odd things written rather quickly!)

Here’s to living not in the past or future, but in the here and now.

Blessings to you, friends!

~Anne