The secret to successful blogging is to be involved in real life relationships that involve give-and-take emotional intimacy. If all of your social life takes place on the computer (blogs, twitter, facebook, forums, etc.), eventually you will step away and find that there is nothing left. Those kind of relationships are about connecting with others without giving yourself, and that is no key to intimacy. You can’t blog and expect to find the sort of relationships your heart desires. You have to build the relationships and have a life outside of the internet first.
Larry Burkett Says that we spend the first 5-7 years of marriage trying to reach the same standard of living as our parents, only it took them 30 years to get there.
After 5 years, I’m still looking for that 1972 velvet sofa.
The first backpacking trip I took with Brenton, or ever, I was 6 months pregnant. It was Labor Day Weekend, and we decided to take a 3 mile hike into a mountain lake. The drive to the trailhead was about 30 miles from our house–19 of those miles were on dirt roads.
I was disappointed and concerned when it started to rain just as we got to the trailhead. Brenton and I discussed turning back for a few minutes and decided to press on. The forecast was for partly cloudy weather, but sun in the afternoon.
We put on our backpacks. Brenton carried about twice the weight as I did since I was carrying an extra 20 lbs in my “front pack” (pregnant belly). The rain had slowed to a sprinkle as we set out on our hike. After about 1/4 of a mile, we were walking in a downpour.
We were well prepared for rain and cold, and we had plenty of hot chocolate, hot cider, and chai mix to rejuvinate us once we got to camp. We had another “should we turn back” conversation when the rain turned to sleet at about 1 1/2 miles up the trail. We hiked on until we found a clearing in the trees hoping to see a break in the clouds.
When we found that clearing, delighted to see, through the sleet and rain, a brilliantly colored rainbow.
To laugh in the face of adversity is like seeing the rainbow through the sleet.
