If you want to know what Five Minute Friday is all about, I could send you the same place I always suggest and tell you to click here.

But if you *really* want to know — like, really — what the Five Minute Friday community looks like, all you have to do is click over here and read the 76 comments that went down last week over at Andrew’s place.

The way you all rallied around this faithful FMF community member while he battles terminal illness flat out astounded me. And I have no doubt that your many kindnesses buoyed up Andrew’s spirits again and again.

Thank you.

Thank you for showing me — and so many others — what the body of Christ looks like in action.

As we said last week, we are not alone — we are one body, and each of us is a vital part of the whole.

***

Needless to say, if you missed last week’s Five Minute Friday, you missed a lot — including the announcement that we’re gearing up for a brand new round of 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes … and YOU’RE INVITED!

We’re linking arms with the Write 31 Days community, and adding our own FMF twist to the challenge — namely, to write a post every day in October in just five minutes or less!

I even created a new page just for the 2015 edition of the madness — ahem, fun that is going to take place here in October!

Click HERE for more info!

OH! And I ALMOST FORGOT!

YOU get to help VOTE on which words you’d like to write on in October!

Click HERE to give three prompt suggestions!

(Voting closes Saturday, September 5th. Prompts for the whole month of October will be announced on Tuesday, September 8th!)

[Tweet “VOTE NOW for three #writing prompt suggestions for 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes!”]

I hope YOU say YES to the challenge!

Which leads me (not so subtly) to this week’s Five Minute Friday prompt:

I’ve been thinking lately about the power of yes.

I say “no” far more often than I say “yes,” at least to myself and my kids.

These past few days, I’ve been pushing the “no” out of my head to make room for the “yes.”

[Tweet “It’s time to push the “no” out of your head to make room for the “yes.””]

I wrote an article about this recently. In it, I shared a story about an evening a couple weeks ago, when I stood sweltering in a non-air-conditioned kitchen, cranky from the discomfort of summer heat and humidity.

Then I got a crazy idea.

Let’s go to the beach, I thought.

Everything in me tried to reason in favor of “no.”

It was getting late. We still had to eat supper. If I took the kids to the beach after dinner, it would mean a late bedtime, sandy showers and more laundry.

But the “yes” in me fought to rise to the top.

It elbowed its way past every “no” and won the fight.

So we went.

I stepped into my bathing suit after dinner, grabbed a pile of beach towels, and told my kids, “Let’s go!” We picked up my sister on the way, and had the most amazing time.

The beach was empty, the water was perfect, the sunrise breathtaking.

If I’d let the “no” in me prevail, I would have missed these shouting displays of the glory of God.

In her book, Let’s All Be Brave, Annie Downs has a whole chapter called, Yes.

In it, she writes:

“Say yes to the open door.

Say yes to the situations that stretch and scare you and ask you to be better than you think you can be.

Say yes to the moments that will only come once.

Say yes to serving.

Say yes to Jesus in every way – every chance you get.”

[Tweet “What “yes” is God nudging you to say?”]

Put on your brave, and make it your best yes — and be prepared to see the glory of God.

For the whole article I reference in this post, click here to read “The Powerful Thing that Happens When You Say Yes.”

What does YOUR “yes” look like? Share in the link-up below!

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