Gift: Five Minute Friday

Every Friday (or Thursday night for those of us who can't wait), a group of us gather together and take five minutes to write on a one-word prompt without worrying about spelling, spacing, or anything else but just pouring our hearts out. Won't you join us? Here's the linkup for this week's prompt: Gift.

Immediately, the word in my mind when I heard "gift" was "Time".

I wrote this week for the BraveGirlCommunity on "Being There". And, due to being with my family and all the end of the year fun, I have not been online much. Last night I was bookkeeping instead of blogging and the sweet Susan Shipe @Hopeful50 sent a tweet telling me she'd missed me.
Even that she took time to do that was a blessing.


"Father of Lights, you delight in your children. Every good and perfect gift comes from you, Father of Lights." That was a praise-and-worship song in my college days that still edifies me. (based on James 1:17 "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." )

By being present, by looking at our kids with our eyes instead of through a camera lens, we risk losing the surface memory, but instead it penetrates our minds and hearts.
Are you focused on whether or not your lens is in focus? Or are you focused on what is happening in front of you?

My parents gave us the gift of their presence for my daughter's kindergarten graduation. (400 miles for a Tuesday night program!) And? Due to their gift (and sacrifice) of time, they were there at breakfast when she lost her first tooth, they saw her little sister's preschool program (which their own daughter directed), and they saw their daughter receive a Pillar of Character award which was a testimony to the legacy of faith they'd presented.

I truly appreciate the gift of my parents' presence at almost every major event of my life. When they didn't or couldn't make it, there was an effort to reach out to me.

Love is a choice, love is a gift, and I can live in love of others because of the greatest gift of all: Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior.

For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

The other gift I'm learning this year is grace, but my timer is telling me to save that for another week. :)
~Tammy