We met some old friends (not that they are old, we have just known them for a long time) for a marriage retreat weekend getaway and went for a great hike Saturday afternoon. At 4,000 feet. Straight up and straight down, no nice level stroll. Good thing I just lost those 30 pounds, right?
We had the trail to ourselves, which was nice and made for a great afternoon. Until we saw this on the trail.....
Those are BEAR prints! Some of the prints were pretty deep in the trail and that means BIG bear. There were smaller, lighter prints too. We are assuming a mamma bear and her cubs? NOT what you want to walk up on in the woods. What does a good mamma do when someone threatens her babies? At this point I have several things running through my head....1) groups are good and you just need to be faster than the slowest person (that would be me); 2) when picking out a cow or hog to butcher, you don't usually select the skinny ones which makes me the attractive pick of the bunch for the bear; and 3) human nature has a defense built in, flight or fight. I knew I wasn't going to fight. That only left one option...flight! But the bulletin at the resort said don't run (yea, right!).
We are not at a point we can just turn around and go back to the car, we are on a loop trail and are midway. At least we thought we were (we found out later we had not gone near as far as we estimated). The bulletin had also said to shake jingle bells as you walk. I ask you, who carries jingle bells with them in October?? I couldn't find a jingle bell app on my phone. So we sang Jingle Bells. That scared away everything in a 10 mile radius I am sure. Well, we never found the bear and, more importantly, the bear never found us!
I did become aware of some things on our hike as it relates to our marriage. We are getting older....we have in all likely hood lived at least half of our lives, if not more. If you relate it to a season I would say we are entering the fall season of life. It is definitely not spring (things are drying up, not blooming). You could argue for late summer, but my hair is changing colors, much like leaves do in the fall. At least it isn't turning orange. I feel like living at a slower pace and my priorities have changed. To make this story work, let's go with fall.
Marriage is much like a hike; there are hills to climb and valleys and ruts along the way. We have certainly climbed some hills and we have hit some ruts. But we have continued the hike hand in hand. We have picked each other up when we have fallen and have steadied each other when on precarious footing. There are peaceful, beautiful over looks in between that we enjoy together. There is an end to the trail. That end is death (til death do us part). Our goal is to stay on the trail (God's plan for our marriage) and avoid the bears (temptations and selfishness that can destroy a marriage). We don't know what God has planned, we simply put one foot in front of the other and take it step by step.
Right now I feel we are enjoying one of those beautiful overlooks and there is not a hill we can't climb together!
"Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their efforts. For if either falls, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to lift him up. Also, if two lie down together, they can keep warm; but how can one person alone keep warm? And if somebody overpowers one person, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not easily broken." Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 (HCSB)
