{"id":1793,"date":"2021-06-03T05:18:44","date_gmt":"2021-06-03T11:18:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedesertsanctuary\/?p=1793"},"modified":"2021-05-30T06:14:51","modified_gmt":"2021-05-30T12:14:51","slug":"being-with-my-wife","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedesertsanctuary\/2021\/06\/being-with-my-wife\/","title":{"rendered":"Being with my Wife"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/p>\n

For the past few months, I have been working 53-hour work weeks.\u00a0 I work on an assembly line and they tell me we\u2019re still behind.\u00a0 Yesterday was the first Saturday I haven\u2019t had to work in a long time.\u00a0 This weekend is special because we also have Monday to ourselves.\u00a0 My wife is a teacher and she is celebrating her reprieve from her usual 9-month marathon of working long hours.<\/p>\n

So, when we got some time this weekend, we practiced being together.\u00a0 I say practice because it\u2019s not always natural when we are used to going different directions and being busy in our chosen vocations.\u00a0 Yesterday, we planted some things in the garden and pulled some weeds.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t by any stretch complete this task \u2014 we just played with it a little.\u00a0 Laura cut my hair.\u00a0 I always say the same thing, \u201cThat\u2019s a lot of hair for a bald guy!\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s funny to me.\u00a0 \u00a0We cooked several meals together and later, I read a chapter of a book I\u2019m reading called \u201cThe Enchanted Life\u201d out loud to my partner.\u00a0 While we were in the car searching for plants, we listened to another chapter.\u00a0 All-in-all we\u2019re five chapters in this weekend and we find ourselves discussing it periodically.<\/p>\n

Last night we started burning our old mattress.\u00a0 We love to sit by the fire pit in the\u00a0 back yard.\u00a0 The previous owners left it for us and I built a deck around it.\u00a0 I know it\u2019s a labor intensive thing to do, but it\u2019s something that kept us warm and occupied our time while we were being together.<\/p>\n

This summer, we are visiting friends in Florida.\u00a0 We can\u2019t wait to be in person with these online friends.\u00a0 In a way, it\u2019s an experiment to meet people first online and then become closer in person.\u00a0 It is likely that people will be envious of this trip to a favored vacation spot, but to be honest, what we did yesterday was almost perfect.\u00a0 Just talking and doing little projects together doesn\u2019t sound all that exciting \u2013 but, to us, it\u2019s the thing we most look forward to when we\u2019re doing our 6 days of labor.<\/p>\n

Since I wrote the book, Being: A Journey Toward Presence and Authenticity<\/a>, I have been discovering new ways almost every day where I can be\u00a0where I am\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0who I am.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>I didn\u2019t write the book as an expert \u2014 I wrote it as a practitioner.\u00a0 And I am practicing every day this intention to be present and authentic.\u00a0 \u00a0The lessons I\u2019m learning from nature alone are breath-taking and cause me to wonder how I ever existed any other way than this.<\/p>\n

I avoid using \u201cbest friend\u201d language when talking about Laura.\u00a0 She is so much more than my\u00a0buddy\u00a0<\/em>and using that language minimizes what we have.\u00a0 I\u2019m a normal person with normal weaknesses, but since the day I met her, I can\u2019t imagine spending my life with anyone else.\u00a0 Cultivating that relationship is somewhat like working in my garden.\u00a0 The more often I work at it, the better the outcome.<\/p>\n

Today, we\u2019re going to record a podcast, have dinner with a friend and probably, burn some more of the mattress.\u00a0 I know it\u2019s not a very aggressive schedule, but it\u2019s enough for a day of rest.<\/p>\n

Being and becoming sounds simple when we imagine it; but when we start to practice being where we are and who we are, we understand more every day of it\u2019s depth and richness.\u00a0 This is especially true when I speak of being with the one I love most.<\/p>\n

My last blog post was about story.\u00a0 I hope that as you read the book about my story, you will tell me your experience\u00a0 as well.\u00a0 What does your journey of presence and authenticity look like?\u00a0 Our stories really are sacred and all of them matter.\u00a0 In many ways, we\u2019re all connected and we all feel this commonality that makes us collective.<\/p>\n

Laura and I get to share our experience daily, but I hope that my written stories bring us closer together.<\/p>\n

Be where you are, Be who you are,<\/p>\n

Karl Forehand<\/p>\n

Order Being: A Journey Toward Presence and Authentic<\/a><\/h4>\n
Karl Forehand is a former pastor, podcaster, and award-winning author. His books include Apparent Faith: What Fatherhood Taught Me About the Father\u2019s Heart and The Tea Shop. He is the creator of\u00a0The Desert Sanctuary<\/a>\u00a0podcast. He is married to his wife Laura of 32 years and has one dog named Winston. His three children are grown and are beginning to multiply!<\/h5>\n

Support us on Patreon<\/a>\u00a0 *\u00a0 \u00a0The Desert Sanctuary Website<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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