Writing Prompt - Summertime (Patti)

It's been awhile since 1st Writes has gotten together, so we're doing a summer writing prompt. We'll post them this week and maybe next. The first one up is from Patti Clugston.

Photo by Patti Clugston, 2013

Summertime

by Patti Clugston

Walking outside makes me imagine what it must feel like in the tropics.

 Chickens are jungle fowl, but the heat is very hard on them.

The hens stand around, beak open, wings propped out from the body. 

They stay in the shade, under the Lilac bush, dug into the dirt.

Dust bathing is a favorite activity. 

They look like they are having a seizure or dying, wings flapping, dust flying, but the dust cools the skin off under the feathers. 

Egg production drops off, it is just too hot. 

I take bowls of ice cubes up to the shady nap spot a few times a day. 

They seem to appreciate it. 

Snickers, my favorite bunny, gets a fan & a large frozen water bottle every day to beat the heat. 

She spreads out beside the coldness & relaxes.

 The ice becomes her best friend.

 I treat her with cold carrot chips & she is a happy bunny.

 Trying to keep everyone cool in the summer heat.

Photo by Patti Clugston, 2013

Writing Prompt - The garden #2

Still getting the creative juices flowing! Today, I'm posting my response to the prompt.

 

The Garden

Photo by Dawn M. Hamsher, 2013

Lush and bright

Colors explode in every shade

A rainbow for the senses

Man and woman hold hands and walk

Constantly bathed in warmth and light

Man pets the lion and woman the lamb

Daily, God embraces His children.

His loving presence is all they know.

Everything is perfect and right with the world.

God’s creation in The Garden is good.

If you'd like to join the prompt, write in comment section!  Next response to "The garden" prompt will be posted next week.

Writing Prompt - The garden

Photo by Dawn M. Hamsher, 2013

It's been awhile since we've done a writing prompt! We need to get those creative juices flowing! Here's one for the end of spring.

The garden

Sandy James is going to start us off with her response.

God’s beauty is so evident in the garden; glorious yellow irises, snow white peonies, purple alum standing so regally , a cacophony of columbine colors and carpets of green grass barbered just so. With such a cold Spring, we’ve just planted small tomato plants whose labels promise fruit within 80 days – an eternity!

Did those plants try to grow? Did they try to be what God created them to be? Did they water themselves? Or grow their roots? Hmmm…
 

What about us? We’re God’s creation created for His enjoyment. But boy it’s hard to be what God wants me to be. I have to make intentional decisions to do what’s right, to live right, to make myself behave properly and act like a Christian. It takes a lot of effort to water and feed myself so I’ll grow up to be beautiful and strong. I know the plants don’t have to do anything for themselves but that’s the way they’re created. It’s different for me. I’ll end up a failure, good for nothing if I don’t take care of myself I don’t want to make God angry or disappoint Him after all He did or me! Right?

Wrong! We can accomplish nothing without God’s enabling power. We are only who we are because of Christ in us, the hope of glory. We have His beauty inside us and the more we surrender to Him, the more that aroma of beauty and love is released in our lives. He is all the while in us both to will and to work for His good pleasure. And ”the good work HE’s begun in us, HE will complete”. It’s not about what we DO, but what we BEcome by drawing close to Him and allowing Him to work in us and through us – by cooperating with Him, seeking His heart in all things.

He’s planted us on this earth to grow and be a demonstration of His love and beauty. All we have to do is say “yes” and watch how His garden grows. 



by Sandy James, 2013

Next response to "The garden" prompt will be posted Friday, May 31.

Writing Inventory

Taking inventory of the role writing plays in our lives helps us to acknowledge what’s working and to pinpoint what areas still need work. In the context of writing for Jesus, our strengths are areas to be grateful for. Identifying weak areas can direct our efforts to improve The Writing Center at UNC Chapel Hill offers writers a self-inventory that can provide useful insights into our writing.

What kinds of writing do you do on a regular basis?

What is your favorite kind of writing? Why?

Describe yourself as a writer using five adjectives.

What is your biggest challenge as a writer? What kinds of critiques have you received from readers?

What is your greatest strength as a writer? What do other people normally praise about your writing style?

If you could change one thing about your writing or your writing process, what would it be?

Have you changed as a writer over the last five years? If so, how? Why?

Describe yourself sitting down to write an important piece of writing.

Where are you?

What are you writing with? (A computer? Pen and paper?)

Is there music or other distraction in the background?

How do you feel? (Anxious? Excited? Relaxed? Nauseated?)

What are you thinking about? (Your audience? Your ideas?)

Did you find this exercise helpful? What did you learn about your writing that you had not realized before? What area will you take steps to improve upon this week?

The Writing Group Starter Kit

© 2010-2012 by The Writing Center at UNC Chapel Hill. 

Used via Creative Commons License 

U is for Unique

1st Writes is participating in the 2013 April A to Z Blogging Challenge.

This year our theme is "Attributes of God from A to Z".

Join us each day as we explore

the characteristics of our awesome God!

United States Department of Agriculture.

No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.   John 1:18 NLT

Many unbelievers ask how they can know a God that they have never seen?  In this verse John revels that if you want to see the mind and nature of God, if you want to see His attitudes, look at Jesus. In this one verse John gives us the key to knowing God.

If seeing Jesus is like looking at a mirror image of God then the disciples knew our unique God.  By studying their detailed journals of Christ, the New Testament becomes a road map to an intimate relationship with God. 

As with the disciples before us the more we know the closer we want to get, and the closer we get the more we want to know this unique God we serve. 

Dean Drawbaugh

©2013 Dean Drawbaugh

S is for Sovereign

1st Writes is participating in the 2013 April A to Z Blogging Challenge.

This year our theme is "Attributes of God from A to Z".

Join us each day as we explore

the characteristics of our awesome God!

Wien - Schatzkammer - Crown Jewels Photo by thisisbossi

Proclaim this message from the Sovereign LORD....

Ezekiel 6:3

The word sovereign means lord, master or owner. A sovereign ruler has authority that trumps the power of courts,  parliaments or popular opinion.  Our God is sovereign, but He always rules with love.

Not so long ago, I was concerned about an upcoming decision I had to make and I was pleading with Father God for direction. A still, small voice whispered to my thoughts: "So, you want Me to tell you what I think so that you can decide what you're going to do?"

Oops!If God's word, written in the Bible or spoken to our hearts, is not the end of the discussion for us, then He is not sovereign. And if He is not sovereign, He is not really Lord, is He?

Who would not want such a wonderful Sovereign?

           

©2013 Joan Disbrow

R is for Righteousness

1st Writes is participating in the 2013 April A to Z Blogging Challenge.

This year our theme is "Attributes of God from A to Z".

Join us each day as we explore

the characteristics of our awesome God!

Photo by xandert on Morguefile.com

The word righteous speaks of being in a right standing with God. The scriptures tell us that there is none righteous. No one can be in a right standing before God on his or her own. God's word tells us plainly that we all have sinned and come short of God's glory. But our God is righteous and through his Son, that righteousness—that right standing—is passed on to us.

So many times we find ourselves struggling with guilt, sin, and failure...But our God reminds us in His word in 1 John 1:9 that as we confess our sin, he will forgive and cleanse us from that unrighteousness that we abhor and make us righteous in his sight. Jesus sacrifice on the cross puts us in right standing with the Father once again. We have been made righteous through Christ, the Righteous One.

©2013 Carol Isbister

P is for Provider

1st Writes is participating in the 2013 April A to Z Blogging Challenge.

This year our theme is "Attributes of God from A to Z".

Join us each day as we explore

the characteristics of our awesome God!

Photo courtesy of Stock.xchng

“God’s name is JEHOVAH-JIREH, the Lord will provide."

Genesis 22:14

There are many scriptures that speak of God's loving provision. For instance Philippians 4:19 says, “my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

Unfortunately, in our society self-dependence is lauded, and anything not logical is considered false.  But in God’s kingdom, His Truth supersedes fact. 

Some years ago my husband and I were struggling financially, but the Lord enabled me to fearlessly tithe, and give to ministries or others in need as He prompted me. My checkbook said I didn’t have enough money to pay the bills but miraculously I was always able to do so.  I don’t know how God did it, but I believed He would provide and He did.

“JEHOVAH-JIREH”, Provider, is not just who He is but what He does. He is faithful to live up to His name.

©2013 Sandy James

M is for Merciful

1st Writes is participating in the 2013 April A to Z Blogging Challenge.

This year our theme is "Attributes of God from A to Z".

Join us each day as we explore

the characteristics of our awesome God!

Photo courtesy of wikimedia.org

The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving,

even though we have rebelled against him."

Daniel 9:9

We know that our God is merciful and extends grace to all even though we don't deserve it. At times the grace and mercy of God is beyond our human comprehension. When we tell the Lord we are truly sorry, He immediately extends mercy to us - so much so that it sometimes takes our breath away. Other times we find it difficult to accept. Are we able to extend mercy to others as He does to us? We can only do so through the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.

It is the mercy of God that melts and transforms our lives. God's mercy takes a hardened sinner and turns him or her into a Christ-like saint of God. That is each one of us. As we examine our lives, we find that we are hopelessly lost and cannot help ourselves or others...but the mercy of God steps in and we are changed from glory to glory. Thank God for His mercy extended to us through our wonderful savior.

©2013 Carol Isbister

L is for Love

1st Writes is participating in the 2013 April A to Z Blogging Challenge.

This year our theme is "Attributes of God from A to Z".

Join us each day as we explore

the characteristics of our amazing God!

Photobucket.com

Dear friends, let us love one another, because love comes from God.

Whoever loves is a child of God and knows God.

Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.

1 John 4: 7-8 

God loves the whole world—the flowers and trees, people and animals, everything—even me.  The greatest proof of God’s love was when he sent his only son to die for us.

Jesus loved us so much he was willing to do what he did.  John 15:13 says “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. When we put our trust in Jesus we become one of those friends that he loves.

©2013 Paula Bridegam

J is for Just

1st Writes is participating in the 2013 April A to Z Blogging Challenge.

This year our theme is "Attributes of God from A to Z".

Join us each day as we explore

the characteristics of our awesome God!

Photo by Kittisak

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."

1 John 1:9 (NIV)

"It's not fair!" echoes through millions of homes every day.

"You never make him (or her)...."

Parents know that fairness and justice are not the same things, but the difference is difficult for youngsters to grasp. Fairness implies a comparison, a measuring of one against another. Justice is absolute.

That is why it is just of our Father God to forgive everyone who acknowledges his guilt and receives what was purchased by Jesus on the cross. It is not at all fair that He received the consequences of our misdeeds. But justice says that the debt for that has already been paid and we no longer owe it.

How grateful we can be that God is not fair, but just.

©2013 Joan Disbrow

G is for Good

1st Writes is participating in the 2013 April A to Z Blogging Challenge.

This year our theme is "Attributes of God from A to Z".

Join us each day as we explore

the characteristics of our awesome God!

Photo by Kramerhawks

“Taste and see that the Lord is good.”

Psalm 34:8

“Ummm, ummm, good! “

Remember that line from the Campbell’s jingle? The steaming bowls of savory soup they showed always made me want to heat up a bowl and sing along.

Psalm 34:8 says that the Lord is [ummm, ummm] good. All we need to do is “taste” and we will see!

How do we go about “tasting” to see for ourselves that the Lord is good?

• We can get a taste (and a whole lot more) of what God is like by reading the Bible.
• Getting together with Christian people can give us another taste of God’s character.
• Talking with God and listening for his replies is another way to “taste” the waters of God’s goodness.

Have you tasted and seen that the Lord is good? How about offering someone else a sample?

©2013 Pamela D. Williams

F is for Faithfulness

1st Writes is participating in the 2013 April A to Z Blogging Challenge.

This year our theme is "Attributes of God from A to Z".

Join us each day as we explore

the infinite characteristics of our awesome God!

Photo by Pam Williams

The old hymn of the church, "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" declares the faithfulness of God in song. The verses speak of the changing of the seasons, the dawning of each morning and the awareness of God's steadfastness.

He is a God who doesn't change, whose character and holiness never waiver. Most importantly, we are blessed by His unchanging love, poured out to us on a daily basis.

The knowledge of God's faithfulness has carried my family through the joy and the heartbreaks, through the feast and the famines of life.  Whatever we face, God is always present.

The long-cherished song of the church makes a grateful child of God want to shout it to the housetops--GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS!

He is a faithful God.

©2013 Carol Isbister

C is for Comfort

1st Writes is participating in the 2013 April A to Z Blogging Challenge.

This year our theme is "Attributes of God from A to Z".

Join us each day as we explore

the infinite characteristics of our awesome God!

Photo courtesy of Morguefile.com

“The God of all comfort who comforts us in all of our afflictions…”

2 Corinthians 1:3

Although he tried to hide it, I had never seen my husband so anxious. The next morning he was to be transported from our local hospital to another, further away, for heart surgery. I couldn’t go with him but would meet him there.  

He had never experienced anything like this. I prayed that God would be a real presence inside that ambulance! I also needed to feel God’s comfort because I was anxious myself!

When I knew they were on the road, I left to pick up our daughter who lived in another town. Due to heavy traffic, I was concerned that we would be unable to arrive in time to meet the ambulance.  Praying as I drove, I pulled back onto the highway. Much to our amazement and relief I was directly behind the ambulance carrying my husband! He was able to see us following along!

I had asked for comfort and God, Our Comforter, responded out of His love and awareness of our anxieties to comfort all of us! In the midst of our trials we can always call on Him and know that He will answer!

©2013 Cheryl Andreus