Wave the white flags and put your hands in the air. It’s time to surrender.

Does your heart sink when you hear those words?

Does the word “Defeated” ring in your ears?

Let me encourage you to take a new view of this necessary posture and attitude that is required for a successful Christian walk.

Surrender is to relinquish possession and transferring it to another. Some people have had to surrender their driver’s licenses. Others surrendered their position of control. Still more seem to have surrendered their capacity for reason upon crossing the threshold of an educational institution, never to be seen again.

Matt 11:28-30 "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.29 "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.30 "For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." (NASB)

I don’t know about you, but my eyes always find the word ‘rest’ in these verses.

STOP

I want to pass over the whole bit about taking Jesus’ yoke on myself. Why in the world is THAT sandwiched in between such lovely thoughts?

Because to be honest, I am weary. I’m tired of “adulting” as some wordsmiths put it. I grew into child raising with my kids, learning as I went and drawing from memories of how my parents did it. But this whole thing of parenting my Alzheimer’s stricken mom is uncharted territory. Being the sole decision maker is daunting. Oh, I do have a husband and sister-in-law who support me but it’s my name on the Power of Attorney, making this baby of the family feel heavy-laden.

I’m looking for rest.

Jesus’s solution is for me to sidle up to Him and slip that yoke over my head. This doesn’t sound so wonderful to me. But it’s only through an act of obedience that reveals the immense blessing I couldn’t see before.  

The yoke makes me close enough to have a private conversation with Him, and He with me. Jesus teaches me how I can shoulder the yoke without chaffing from it. He gives me joy for the journey and points out the beauty that can be found in the midst of the task.

A yoke signifies labor, hard work, and harnessed effort. It serves as a reminder that I don’t trod this earthly sod alone. I am paired with Someone who is gentle and humble in heart Whose greatest joy is to bring me to the Good Place with God. If I trip he won’t leave me. He is right there to get me back on my feet so I can continue.
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The yoke and the burden are part and parcel of this sinful world.
We are all under authority.
We all have to contend with burdensome tasks.
I don’t want to give up.
​I want to give in to God.
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Set your timer and write for five minutes and see what you get from the word prompt of the week. That's what we call Five Minute Friday. Find more posts about our word this week HERE. 

Oh, Lord,
May my words be few and worthy of You
May my actions give body and shape to the love You desire to show.
Keep me in the good place, where Your Presence is - only there will I be whole.
Let not my joy be derived from the manufactured number of my worth.
Let not my focus target fame.
If I write, it is for Your glory.
If I muse, may I stir up thoughts of You.
If I ponder, may I willingly wander Heavenward to the One who answers all.
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Attacked by yet another poetry bug, my Five Minute Friday post took me to a lyrical place. And, as always, I surprise myself with the final product of this timed exercise. I thought I would write about intentional joy, but after a simple observation of my blog’s Facebook page stats and realizing that 3 followers had un-liked it, joy was flung aside and I was left to ruminate on this unwelcome news.

My writing gig is not for profit or recognition. It’s a response to a nudge from God to improve my speaking – on the radio (my job), to groups of women (my ministry), in conversations (my personal contacts with others).

I find that I must be intentional in how I approach my platform. Why am I doing this? Will my words enhance God?  Can I be content if my ‘numbers’ NEVER increase?

Shine the light on me, if you must. But I will intentionally turn it back to My God who gave us all words in the first place so that we would converse with Him and give Him praise. 
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This post brought to you by the word "Intentional" and by the Five Minute Friday Link-up. 

Clear away the clutter.
Reading my title makes me shudder.
For the thing I know to do
I can’t bring myself to do.
Make space for more
     Think-freedom,
          Clean-freedom,
               Responsibility-freedom.
                    Time-freedom.
A goal worth achieving
Takes muscles yet to be revealed.
That which I want to do
Gives struggle.
Reduced to my knees
To ask for help.
 
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This was an interesting process.

I am always surprised with what I end up with as I write my 5 minute post. Channeling my inner e e cummings it seems. At least I didn’t regress to Yoda-izing my phrases. Sheesh!
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Thanks for reading this post to the end. You can find some really wonderful thoughts on our word prompt for this week, ‘Simplify’, at Five Minute Friday, a writer’s community where we write our thoughts about one word for five minutes and let the whole world see the result. 

I have to admit it, I get up in the morning faster when I have a goal to accomplish.
Or a tasty breakfast to consume.
Or special people to spend time with.
The proper motivation will create within me the desire to see the promised end result, regardless of the necessary preparation. It’s the goal that makes all the hard work worth it in the end.

This year I’m joining the One Word train and will focus much of my writing on my word for 2018 – Joy. At first I thought it would be easy-peasy, fluffy sweet sentiments on something that makes me smile all the time. I was surprised to find that many times when joy was mentioned in the Bible it was in accordance with suffering.

Say WHAT?!

I’ve been dwelling on one verse in particular, in Hebrews 12:2 “Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (NASB)

Well SURE, Jesus could do that because He is God. Right?
But if Jesus is my example I must follow in His footsteps. I know that I am not greater than my Teacher. My calling is not to die for the sins of the world, but to live for Him who did. The resulting joy is being in His presence now and forever.

For the joy that I have now, I relinquish my agenda and follow His. This means not doing things according to the popular trend or in line with the trendy analytics. I most likely will function counter-to-the-culture. Raised eyebrows looking my way.

Shake it off, baby. Shake it off.

For the joy that is to come, I sacrifice my sense of what joy MUST look like. Sunshine and roses? Fireside coziness? Roller coaster high?

No, I don’t think so.
Joy is wrapped up in the package of the One who gave completely of Himself, obediently. To the point of death on the cross for my sin SO THAT I could be seated with Him in the heavenly places. His pain for my gain. Joy is Jesus.

Joy is running the race to the finish line and being handed the victor’s crown by The Victor – and laying it at His feet. I don’t want the award for the race, I want to see Jesus face to face.
That is Joy. 
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This post is brought to you by Five Minute Friday - a writing community spurred on by one word writing prompts and a love to elaborate on them. Also, we like each other. Check it out!