So .. remember those occasional fly-by comments on Twitter and even in this video with Asheritah, like, “Oh hey, wouldn’t it be fun to have a Five Minute Friday retreat in real life sometime?!” And everyone is like, “YES! We should DO IT!”

Well … let’s just say we’re trying to grow wings on that dream.

The lovely and long-time FMF participant Holly Barrett graciously offered to help plan this dreamy retreat, and we’re in the very early brainstorming phases at the moment.

But before we go any further with our planning, we’d love to get some input from YOU! Because, of course, you are the whole reason we would plan such a weekend away.

So, if you’re interested in attending the first-ever FMF Retreat, won’t you please either scroll down and answer a few questions for us in the form below, or click HERE to fill out the same brief survey.

In the spirit and hope of one day sharing more than just blog posts and comments and tweets with one another, but actually sharing a weekend away in real life, this week’s prompt is:

[Tweet “Join us for five minutes of free #writing on the word SHARE .. “]

Here we go ..

***

Sharing can be hard no matter which way you try to cut it.

I get that.

I shared a room for most of my life. My sister and I spent many an evening bickering, “I want the door closed,” “You had it closed last night,” and, “I want the radio on,” “Too bad, I want it off.”

Now I’m a mom of three and I’ve seen my fair share of huffing and puffing and little pouting faces that aren’t too keen on giving up even a portion of whatever it is they possess.

Most times, I know exactly how they feel.

But as I’ve grown older, I’ve come to see that there’s a certain blessedness about sharing.

A sanctifying aspect to it, even.

It shifts the focus off of oneself and on to the needs of another.

Take sharing the hurts of another, for example. Is there not a slice of humbled glory in bearing one another’s burdens?

Scary, yes — both in the giving of the burden and in the receiving of it. But it’s through sharing in the sufferings of Christ that we also share in His glory.

We have the privilege of linking arms and heaving weight onto shoulders joined by more than just the touching of flesh. We have hearts entwined and tangled and knit together to present to the world that His body is united. In Him, we are one.

STOP.

***

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.”

~ 2 Corinthians 1:3-7

“Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”

~ Romans 8:17

Go ahead and SHARE your words with us by linking up below, or by including your five minutes of writing in the comments.

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