It is that time again! Time for me to hurry up and write my Five Minute Friday post being that it is Saturday and all. You get your prompt every week at Kate Motaung’s blog Heading Home. It is about five minutes of freewriting with no worries about editing or what other’s may think. Take the prompt and see where your heart goes. Join us!
Today’s prompt is Abandon!
Let’s Go!
So I really had to stop for a bit with this one. My mind sort of whirlwinds around the word abandon.
My first thought with the word abandon was of the above picture of my husband Scott. This was taken in Pennsylvania very close to his hometown. I like the way he is just embracing what is in front of him. It is beautiful and scary all at the same time. The beauty is something you can enjoy from afar. But when you get closer to the scary part, the beauty is absolutely breathtaking! I think it is partly because of that little slice of danger there. Then again, I’m guessing with his arms out like that, he didn’t feel the danger like I would.
Get me that close to a big ole drop off and I can appreciate the beauty, but I can also very clearly appreciate and feel the danger.
When I get close to drop offs like this and remotely get close to danger and I freeze. I freeze completely into inaction. It is completely involuntary too. My body will not allow me to move forward nor go back. It is one of the worst feelings I have ever experienced, and it takes absolute force on my part to make something happened. I felt this way when I was vacationing in Mammoth and was hiking on the mountain. We were hiking where people normally ski and I was walking closer and closer to the edge. I was fine as long as I had forward momentum, but then I stopped and turned around to look at where I had come from. I turned back to the edge, and that was it! I couldn’t move a muscle. My body was like “Girl, you can just forget moving at this point. I am on strike until you get some sense!”
Taking a big step to your future can be like that too. It may not be drop off a canyon dangerous, but it can be drop off a canyon big! You see on the other side the possibilities and the beauty that you simply cannot touch, but you also see the danger zone of the possibilities of falling and failure.
On the other hand going back is also impossible too. You’ve seen what you could see, experienced what you could experience, and you have changed! Sometimes you just go too far to go back.
I feel that way now.
In order to grow you gotta go. At least that is where my heart is. Make a move. You know?
Now I am not saying physically leave, but that could be the case. You have to move past comfortable into the dangerous (loose form of the word here unless of course you are at a physical cliff) a bit here and there or at the very least the scary in order to embrace the next.
Now I could go on a quite a bit here, but my five is up. I do want to leave you with this. No matter what move, prep is key. Seeking the Lord is where I stand right now. I find comfort in what is pretty much my life verse.
Deuteronomy 31:8
“The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”
No matter what, you are not abandoned.
Great post Kelly!
Thanks so much Tara! Have a wonderful weekend!
I love the photo- it captures the word abandon well. Such a beautiful scene and yet I know I would be afraid standing close to the edge like that. It’s scary too to abandon ourselves to God and his plan but reassuring to know that we can step out trusting him because he will never fail us or abandon us.
It is scary to just abandon ourselves to God. You’d think we would race to do it. Especially considering how we can stumble so much. Thanks so much for visiting Lesley. 🙂
Kelly, my sentiments about heights and drop offs would be about the same as yours. I don’t like to be near the edge of a cliff. 🙂 Your husband does look like he’s enjoying the moment! I’m so thankful that God does go before us and will never lead us astray.
Blessings to you!
He definitely seizes opportunity for joy! 🙂 Gayl I am so blessed by your visit. Grateful for our Lord’s guidance. Thank you for visiting! God bless you!
If you wanna grow, you gotta go! Love that!
I’ve been feeling like that a lot lately. Whether it is physically go or moving toward a goal. Amber thank you so much for visiting.
Hi Kelly, you left a comment on my post today about possibly being a Six on the Enneagram (which I am). I know what you mean when I read this post! I appreciate what you’ve shared. Stepping out and facing our fears is only possible if we truly trust in God and His faithfulness. God bless you on your journey!
Thanks for visiting me too Jeannie. I always get so much from your posts. 🙂
What beautiful photos and beautiful thoughts. This abandon thing went in so many different directions in people’s posts. I’ve really enjoyed reading them! But, yours definitely had the most breathtaking photo! 🙂
Thank you so much for visiting, Sue. I have been so surprised at all the different ways people have tackled the prompt this week. I kept going back to that picture of my husband. 🙂 I appreciate the compliment. I am definitely biased. 🙂 Have a lovely week!
Kelly, it takes courage to face our mountains, scenic view and all, and learn to either climb or walk around them. I’d be standing there freezing with you, or cringing down on the ground, because heights and I do not mix well. :/ Look how brave your man is! It makes for a great photo and a brilliant analogy of faith which faces the challenging path before it and walks confidently to the edge with God, drinking in the air and seeing far more than those who hunker closer to ground level. Our walk of faith is meant to be one of continuous forward momentum, though we can spend years in deserts and valleys and lose ourselves in dark nights of the soul, whereby we feel lost and alone. Yet the very things we see as derailing and stopping stations are actually where we grow the most, giving ourselves in dependence to God. Thanks for stopping by my site. It’s lovely to visit you, too! 🙂 x
Joy I am so blessed by your insights. Wow. Seriously. I love what you say here about the things that we see as derailing are where we grow the most. There is the total absolute truth! Joy, you have brought me so much in your visit. Thank you! 🙂
Thanks for visiting me again! (jijikit at DeviantArt)
It’s amazing how alike we are! I have the same paralyzing fear of heights, especially if there is nothing for me to hang on to (railing, wall, etc.) There is that “survival mode” that kicks in. Funny as it doesn’t prevent me from climbing, roller coasters, or driving through the mountains – though that cold fear is still lurking in my spine.
Still, I love that you have written nearly identical what I had, but just from a different angle. “Abandon” was a difficult topic, but it has amazed me how positive people have been able to define it for themselves.
Keep growing. Keep embracing. And thanks again for your kind words. <3
Thank you for visiting me here too! I don’t know when this freeze hit me with heights. I used to climb trees, scale down the cliffs by my childhood home, and jump off the roof to my brother’s pool as a teen. Now…yikes! At least yikes as soon as I stop!
I am keeping you in my prayers for the upcoming events in your life.
Thank you for being so encouraging!
Kelly, I’m quite late to the party. A busy boy-centered weekend and a sick kiddo yesterday sorta set me back on my writing life. 🙂
I loved what you said about in order to grow, we have to GO. We must move beyond the comfortable and into the unknown, trusting God to keep His word and go with us. Your post made me think of that scene in Lord of the Rings where Samwise Gamgee stops at the edge of a corn field and says something to the effect, that his next step will take him further from home than he’s ever been. That’s kind of life sometimes, isn’t it? Taking the next step?
Great post!
OOOH I love that scene in Lord of the Rings! I feel that I am finally getting the picture of what God wants me to do. He has been showing up in amazing ways! So glad that you came by to visit Jeanne. Thank you! Have a wonderful week!