February Blessings: Friday's Fave Five

Friday February 11, 2011

Time for a rundown of my favorite things from this week. Once again, a great time to look back and count your blessings! Thanks to Susanne from Living to Tell the Story for hosting. Visit Susanne and join us.

Here are five of my week’s blessings:

1. Friends I can confide in. I love working with people I love, and several of them are great listeners. We listen to each other, encourage each other, pray for each other. It’s awesome.

2. My Chipper dog. I’m a dog person, and we got Chipper about 16 years ago. He’s slowing down quite a bit, but he’s in pretty good shape for his age. I’m happy to find him waiting at home for me every day. This house is very quiet sometimes, and Chip is a great companion.

3. Pictures of my grandson Aiden. He’s 5 months old now! Look at that smile.

4. A sweet husband who’s helping me tend our garden. You can read about that here.

5. A quote. If you’ve read here for awhile, you know I’m a lover of literature. I came across this quote recently and I loved it.

Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become. (C.S. Lewis)

Literature adds to reality, irrigating our deserts. It’s really true for me. I love a good book and its lessons. I hope you do, too!

Commitment isn't enough

Thursday February 10, 2010

If you had asked, all those many years ago when we got married, if we were committed to this relationship, we would have readily answered “Yes.” After all, it’s not hard to be committed to a marriage when you’re head-over-heels in love and there’s no one to think about but each other.

Fast forward, many years (and four kids) later. The answer to that commitment question remains the same, but much has changed. The addition of four little lives to ours has undoubtedly altered our world. We can’t imagine life without those four awesome boys! Our lives have also been affected by jobs and just the general busyness of life, but the answer to that commitment question remains the same.

But we’ve decided commitment isn’t enough.

You know, we strive for excellence in all we do – doing the best at our jobs, being the best we can be.

But in our marriages? Not so much. We just let them happen.

Many of us rely on that rock-solid commitment to pull us through. I’m glad it’s there, but we’ve decided we want more. Think about it – a rock isn’t a very emotionally satisfying metaphor, is it?

Sometimes the marriage garden needs tending, and I’m not talking about adding rocks. Sometimes it cries out for time, sometimes for pruning. Sometimes it needs a bit of zest – some fertilizer – or more sunshine. Sometimes it just needs to be pampered and enjoyed and admired.

So we’re working on it, and we’re having a great time doing it. The garden will be lined with rock-solid commitment, but our goal is to make it overflow with love and time and respect and joy – all those things that put us head-over-heels in the first place.

Linking up with Bonnie today for What I Wish I'd Known About Marriage, part of her Unwrapping Love series.