Retreat....I repeat...RETREAT

This week's devotions have been full of helpful information.  The one I read this morning was so timing appropriate.  It was about how couples have to strip down...not in a take off your clothes sense, but in a strip your life of all the distractions sense...every once in awhile.  The importance of finding your "Us". 

http://www.incourage.me/2011/07/a-stripped-down-version.html

Coach and I are getting ready to embark on our own finding "Us" expedition.  Every word of the above devotion is true about our lives.  There are moments when we are so busy packing bat bags and running every which way, that we hardly speak.  We pass in the hallway on our way out...and we text to communicate with one another about our plans for the day...night...week...etc.  So finding "Us" is quite important from time to time.  I can always tell when we have had too much time away from the two of us.  We begin to argue...and snap at one another.  Mainly because one of us is upset and offended by something the other one has done...but we don't have time to share with each other what the real problem is. 

The part in the devotion about being able to book two flights...pay for two meals...and not having to cut up someone's food.  (That is like a double bonus right there.)  So true.  It is the little things that we do for our kids that pile up and start to weigh us down.  Not that I would ever give them up...EVER.  But it is okay to break away every once in awhile to get to the things that get constantly sidelined by taking care of our boys. 

We took some new family pictures the other night (and that is a story for a whole different blog).  I know, I know...we just took some in the fall.  I have heard this from three boys and an a husband all week.  But we are all tan from being out in the sun all summer and I love summer pictures.  Plus, my favorite photographer of all time happens to be my sister...so it is a bonus.  Anyway...we took family pics.  We took some of the 5 of us.  Some of me and the boys.  Some of Coach and the boys.  Some of just the boys.  And then we took some of just Coach and I.  The pictures of just the two of us felt so bare.  Just us.  It has been so long since I have focused on just us...how we look...how we've changed...and how much we've grown.  We are so different than we were when we got married almost 13 years ago.  We've changed as people.  We've experienced great joy and heartache.  We've been blessed beyond measure.  We've had some really good fights...and some really dumb ones.  We've learned when to give in...and when to stand up to each other.  It is amazing when you strip down your relationship...and see just how far you've come. 

And then...to do the same thing with your relationship with God.  Such good food for thought.  There are days when I can't put my phone down.  Checking emails...checking facebook...checking texts.  I noticed the other day that the more I checked facebook, the more upset I became about something and the less I was reflecting Christ in my actions.  The more upset I got, the more frustrated and short tempered I became...and the uglier I was to the people around me.

Stripping down to find God.  Technology has given us information at our fingertips faster than we can process it.  Sometimes it is just better to let go of all that information and Let God...

Let Him take over your emotions.
Let Him give you peace and understanding.
Let Him be in control of every situation.
Let Him be the one you go to.
Let Him be the light in which you follow.

Have a blessed day all!
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