It’s Friday morning and I’m sitting here with my coffee and laptop eager to join my positive Five Minute Friday community on this week’s link up. If you are curious what this is all about here it is: Five Minute Friday is a community of positive writers who gather weekly to respond to a common prompt. We share links to our articles and visit each other’s pages to offer encouragement and insights. Since I started writing on this public forum, my circle has expanded and I’ve been influenced by some great writers. This week, our prompt is the word FRESH.
Over the next couple of days, my family is traveling to a state park where we have rented a cabin. Ever since I was pregnant with #2, we have made it a tradition to get away during the Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend and every year it seems to come at the perfect time.
I am in need of fresh air.
The outdoors does a wonder for the psyche and for that I am grateful. Even in our Ohioan winters, a winter hike or sled ride can bring a fresh wave of joy. It’s easy to deprive oneself of sunlight and the world outside of our cozy homes when it is cold enough to freeze the ground out there.
But our bodies were made to interact with nature. Our lungs crave the restorative power of fresh air. Our brains yearn to collect vitamin D from the sun’s rays. Our feet long to feel the ground below.
However, this trip is about more than my physical desire to be in nature. It has become necessary to re-center my attitudes. When I crafted my 2021 intentions I had no idea that within the first week I would be so shaken by the events of my country that I would experience a mental paralysis. Like every American, I’ve wrestled with events as they unfold and it has left me immobile in my thoughts. Try as I might, I cannot shake the foreboding feelings because life is saturated in media, news, and talk about the future of our nation.
This weekend I am hoping for that fresh perspective that comes from fresh air.
My prayer is that this weekend will help me to move past the wreckage and into a place of clarity and peace. Not only do I pray for physical restoration, but I also pray to reunite with the inner peace that comes from a fresh faith.
The Ameri Brit Mom
The Ameri Brit Mom 
One thing we can both control today, tomorrow and every day is our thinking. Our thinking then informs our perspectives and attitudes. Last Sunday I was reminded that we are just experiencing some chapters that are hard. But there is a day when the final chapter will make all things new. All will be fresh. Revelation chapter 21 is one helpful anchor for a fresh attitude for today. Thanks for writing! It caused me to remember the everlasting truths that must inform my attitudes, perspectives, and my purpose.
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Praying now for the Lord to fill you with His peace and strengthen your faith so that you will be steadfast and immovable when you return. Blessings!
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Enjoy the fresh air! Enjoy the family time! Shutting out the wider world helps me…avoid the news. Focus on your own family in front of you. That matters so much more. May you have a peaceful long weekend. Jennifer
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Have a reFRESHing time!
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This is written just for you; I hope it brings some comfort.
Visit Albert on the Somme,
horror of a beastly past,
and you will not hear shell or bomb
through wind-whistle in the grass.
Yes, the very ground’s been torn
and the scars are plain to see,
but there has been new nature born
and through it God claims victory
over men of lustful pride
who thought themselves Titans remade;
their processional way’s now forest ride,
parade-ground now a leafy glade
where in a clean and smokeless sky
the larks, now happy-singing, fly.
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Fresh air is so good for the soul!
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“Fresh faith” — new mercies every morning! Have a wonderful time, a blessed time. FMF#36
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Fresh air and the outdoors are such a wonderful gift from God! I run to the outdoors when I need to feel refreshed and rejuvenated. And we most definitely need some refreshment after this past year and the past couple of weeks.
Enjoy your time outside! I hope you find refreshment for your body and soul!
Love,
Annie FMF #19
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May you be re-fresh-ed during your family retreat.
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