Five Minute Friday: Whisper

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1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. Seriously. That is, like, the rule. And the fun. And the heart of this community...

Five minutes on whisper...

GO 


Usually when I sit down to write a Five Minute Friday post, I try not to look at the word until just before I begin writing. I like the challenge of having to think on the fly.  This morning, though, I accidentally caught a glimpse of the word before I was ready to write. Thoughts started going through my head. Mostly incredulous thoughts; thoughts that said I don't even know the meaning of the word we are writing on.

The fact is, my life is loud. I have three kids (two boys) and I work on a college campus. There's not often a lot of quiet in my life. And if it is quiet, chances are I'm getting ready to go to sleep. In fact, yesterday I went home for lunch and I was annoyed because someone was using a jackhammer right across the street! Did that interrupt my quiet time at home? Nope, I still fell asleep for a 30 minute nap!

As I continue to ponder this word, though, I realize there is one part of my day that is quiet that I am learning to really appreciate. When I put the kids to bed, we read a chapter out of our chapter book and then we say our prayers. We're still working on a new way of praying in the evenings and the kids are getting the hang of it.

Just two nights ago, we started going through the steps of our prayer. Adoration was fairly quiet, but the contrition part actually got more of a response that I was expecting. Barely more than a whisper, my middle one says, "I'm sorry I lost my temper tonight."  My eyes teared up a bit. This is the first time that I can remember him humbly acknowledging his temper.  He's apologized before, but it's always been mostly forced, barely removed from the heat of the moment. 

I acknowledged his apology and we continued on with our prayer. And as I sit here thinking back on it, I hope that there will be more whispers. We just have to make a quiet space for them to come out.