It’s Five Minute Friday time!
Who’s ready to exhale a long breath and sink into the weekend?
Who’s ready to let your fingers fly across the keyboard or journal and just get it all out?
That’s what we’re about here at Five Minute Friday. We write fast and free, for five minutes flat. All are welcome! Feel free to join the fun, and invite your friends! Link-ups go live at 10pm EST on Thursday nights and remain open all week!
To foster community and the spirit of encouragement, please read and comment on the blog linked up before your own. And have fun!
Learn more about Five Minute Friday here.
And guess what?
We’re planning another retreat!
If you didn’t manage to fill out the FMF Retreat Survey last week, please do so now by clicking here.
Now … let’s write!
This week’s FMF prompt is:
Ready? GO.
So here’s the thing. I don’t write about politics. Like, ever.
Sure, I have my opinions and convictions but I guess I just don’t feel the need to air them. So this really isn’t meant to be “a political post” or to stir up any heated debate.
It’s just that, like many of you, I watched Obama’s farewell speech this week.
And yes, I cried.
Right around the time he said the word, “Michelle,” I couldn’t blink back the tears any longer.
Here’s what I took away from that speech:
1. Be the change
2. Embrace differences
And thirdly, not so much from the content of the speech itself but from the aftermath:
3. Sometimes it’s okay to meet in the middle.
I feel like this world can be so polarized at times. So black and white. And yes, we should have principles and convictions and absolutes.
But we don’t need to attack the ones who think differently.
It’s okay for me to say that I didn’t agree with many of Obama’s policies or decisions, but that I still think he is a man of incredible integrity. I can say that I don’t support his view on certain issues, and still stand in awe of the fact that he and his family carried themselves with such class and dignity over the past eight years, particularly in such a pressured, public role.
I don’t have to love everything or hate everything.
I can be in the middle.
And sometimes the middle is a fine place to be.
STOP.
It’s your turn! Share your own five minutes of free writing below — and don’t forget to leave a comment for your link-up neighbor!
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Amen! The middle is a beautiful place to be!
Kate, I love this. It is SO. TRUE.
I agree with you about the middle, Kate: I often find myself there, too. I think the world needs more people to stand in the middle;I think that’s where peace and reconciliation can be forged.
Great post! I think many people fall into the political middle, but that reasonable voice isn’t heard enough. I agree, the Obama’s have handled themselves so well over their two terms.
Kate,
I agree as well. I’d label myself as a “moderate conservative”. As an education major in a small liberal arts college, I was not in the majority, especially among my professors. My natural peacemaking tendencies and desire for fairness and cooperation lead me to try to find the middle to make mediation possible often.
🙂 And your viewpoints reflected mine. I did not watch the speech, but I think as a family, they really handled themselves well in office. It is a difficult place to be and one that I am now old enough to take, but have no desire for that responsibility. I’ve made enough mistakes on a small scale not to want my mistakes written about on the internet and in history books.
But, this also is true. If we are to follow Christ, we are to try to reach out and meet in the middle without compromising what we believe. Friendship does not mean 100% agreement, but 100% respect and fairness.
So grateful for all you bring to FMF and to the world!
Love,
Tammy
Tammy
Just love that “100% respect and fairness”.
Blessings,
Janis
Kate,
That was a great post. Being a Canadian I don’t vote but I do follow your politics and have always liked the dignity and statesmanship of both Obama and Michelle. Middle ground is a good place for somethings -and certainly in learning to get along with others it is good to step back and see their ideas.
Blessings and thanks for this tremendous linkup.
Janis
What a wonderful perspective!
Beautifully written!
Just want to say thanks Kate for the writing prompts, although I don’t always get there in time for 5 Minute Friday, I always check the prompts and it causes posts that have been brewing for a while to come to the surface and get written even if it doesn’t make it to the link up.
Iam not the middle child, I am the youngest but my sister is the middle child of our family and is suffering with stage three cancer that’s getting worst and thigns are not looking great but we are in the middle of her third surgeries and treatment and I am in the middle of finding a flight home to help and be ulplifting and a joy to all, God has brough this opportunity to me while I am in the middle of job searching, starting 3 small at home businesses and living in the middle of the boonies as my friends say is quite a relief as I can step out in to God’s beautiful nature and commune with him on direction and strenghth……
God continues to refine me as I search for clarity in various areas of my life, I so need his refining in work, home, parenting, marriage and health. I continue to refine my body from the inside out and eating right and praying and being in His word are truly the refining I have neede over the years. Refine is such a broad word with a unique meaning to evryone