by Dorothy Johnson

And think not you can direct the course of love, if it finds you worthy, love directs your course. /Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself. The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran

I’ve been thinking about great love stories—not the short, tragic sort, but relationships of real-life people whose commitment and affection for one another have spanned years and seemed to grow stronger with each passing year.

And you were born together, and together you shall be forevermore. /You shall be together when white wings of death scatter your days. /Aye, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God. 

My Aunt Mary and Uncle Zack were beautiful examples of enduring love. He was only in his early 60s when he lost his battle with cancer. Aunt Mary was a one-man woman with no interest in dating. I know of at least one suitor she shooed away and there may have been more. She kept several of Uncle Zack’s shirts to wear around the house. I will never forget her telling me, “When I wear them, I feel his arms around me.” Aunt Mary soldiered on in her widowhood, and I believe there was great joy in heaven when those two were reunited.

When love beckons to you follow him, /Though his ways are hard and steep. 

When his wings enfold you, yield to him, /Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you. And when he speaks to you, believe in him,

I’m pondering the through-thick-and-thin, sometimes-by-the-skin-of-our-teeth, but-we-made-it kind of unions. They’re folks like my friends, Don & Donna, who are almost joined at the hip. Generally if you see one, the other isn’t far away. They used to work together, and now that they’re retired, they spend most of their time in one another’s company. That is, unless he’s hunting or she’s having lunch or coffee with the girls. Don’s been known to grumble about not getting to come along with her on coffee dates, but she doesn’t go hunting, so…

This pair will tell you that their marriage wasn’t always so good. Over the years, they faced big challenges, but they stuck together. Now they’re examples of stability and devotion.

But let there be spaces in your togetherness, /And let the winds of the heavens dance between you. /Love one another but make not a bond of love: /Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls…. /And stand together, yet not too near together: For the pillars of the temple stand apart, /And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.

 Last year, I had the privilege of attending two 50^th wedding anniversary parties for classmates. Larry & Carolyn and Bobby & Karen enjoy relationships a little different from Don and Donna’s.

Larry traveled for years because of his job while Carolyn held down the fort at home. Now that he’s retired and home all the time, they both enjoy part-time jobs, but they’re a team at church.

Bobby and Karen worked at the same company but never in the same department. In retirement, she thrives on lots of volunteer activities while he pursues other interests when they’re not at home together.

To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving; To rest at the noon hour and meditate love’s ecstasy; /To return home at eventide with gratitude. /And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.

Finally, there are duos like Terry and me, who although disappointed in love, didn’t give up on finding a lasting relationship. Last year we felt blessed to celebrate our 41^st anniversary. He and I have never worked at the same place, and we have very different interests. But we still thrive on being together when we’re not enjoying our individual hobbies or fulfilling other commitments.

Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping. /For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts. 

Whatever your situation—whether single or married, I pray you will truly understand how greatly you are adored by the author and true embodiment of Eternal Love.

The Lord appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. Jeremiah 31:3

Note: If you’d like to read the complete passages “On Love” and “On Marriage” in The Prophet and learn more about Gibran, visit the following websites.

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jrcole/gibran/prophet/prophet.htm.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prophet_(book)

By Renee Birchfield

Spending time together with your family is not only one of the most important things that you can do, it can also create some of the most memorable times of your life. Whether you decide to have a stay at home date watching movies together, or got out for an evening of family-filled fun, the memories you make together will last a lifetime.

My family consists of my husband, me, our dog, cat and soon some fish. Our family time may be a little different than yours but the importance is still the same. A few things to remember when you are having family time:

• Give each other your full attention. Put away the phones, turn off the TV, focus on the people around you.
• Do something everyone can enjoy. Try to pick an activity that will be fun for everyone even the ones who have never done it before.
• Talk to each other. Now is the time to connect to your family see what is going on in their lives, and what they are thinking.
• Another idea is to have one person plan everything, or for kids pick the activity, and surprise the others.
• Remember that it doesn’t need to cost a lot to be fun. Some of my favorite memories are from times we spent no extra money at all.

Some things that my husband and I like to do are:

• Make a nice dinner at home and watch “terrible” movies together on Netflix while making fun of them the whole time. This usually leads to some fun inside jokes and a memorable laugh that we will share.
• Take our animals for a nice walk in a State Park or a nice walking trail. Not only is it good exercise but we talk about random things and it always makes us closer.
• Go out for a dinner at our favorite restaurant. Sharing great food with the people that matter most to you is always a way to make memories.
• Just do “nothing” sometimes nothing can spawn the best ideas you have ever had together. Some of the most fun and memorable things my husband and I have done have come from spur of the moment ideas we had while we were just hanging out together.
• Do something related to a hobby that a member of your family has. This will allow you to draw closer to each other and at the same time you may find a new hobby yourself.

As you can see it does not matter what you do together, all that matters is that you are enjoying a time with the people that mean the most to you. There are an almost endless amount of things that you can do to make yourself closer to your family, unfortunately, most of the time we get so caught up in everyday life that sometimes we forget to spend time with the ones that matter most. So this year put your phone down, don’t let your everyday life get in the way and enjoy some time with your family and make memories that will last a lifetime.

Renee shares her favorite things in life at Married and Hungry. Hoping that her newlywed situations and thoughts will help another new wife out there, and to let them know they are not alone. Being a self-proclaimed food nerd, with a degree in Food and Culinary Science, she shares her recipes and experiments.  Her and her husband call Central Arkansas home for now. You can find her at home making the kitchen a mess, trying to cross stitch, or playing with their dog and cat. Keep up with her over on Twitter, and Married and Hungry’s Facebook page.

by Brittney Lee

Keeping it All Together

Like most of you, I have a love-hate relationship with technology.  I love it for all the useful things it can do, but I hate how attached we’ve become to it. While I do try to put down the phone and be present more, I’ve found a few apps that really help me keep my life in order.

For starters, I use the True Weight app each day. It’s a unique system of tracking your weight, whether you want to gain, lose, or maintain. It keeps a rolling average, so you can see beyond the daily fluctuations. It will chart your recorded weight and your “true weight” which is the average weight along with trend lines.

Another app I love is the eMeals app.  While it does come at a cost (I’ve previously been a part of a blogger promotion, so if you’re interested you should check that out), I pay for weekly meal plans and grocery lists. It’s awesome because when I’m at the store wondering what we need for dinner, I can pull up the recipes right there.

For my spiritual side, I love the Echo app.  Echo is a multi-use prayer app. It allows you to record anything you want to pray for (and also to mark when they’ve been answered!), but it also has a prayer mode. When you select “Pray now”, it will scroll you through your prayer requests and it will also block any disruptions from coming through on your phone. You can also set reminders to pray at certain times of the day.

When I travel, one app I love is TripCase. When you get itinerary emails, you just forward them to TripCase, and they keep it all together for you.  You can store hotel confirmations, flight plans, cruises, car rentals, restaurant reservations, concert tickets and more. It’s great because you can see all these plans together, get directions, check the weather, and countdown to your trip – all in one app.

Google Photos helps me streamline all of my digital images. I just take all the pictures and video I want, and then when I’m hooked up to wifi once a week, I open the Google Photos app.  It backs all my images up so that they are stored in the cloud.  Online, you can tag images, search through your images, and organize them, creating a great backlog of pictures without much work.

For my blogging, I use the WordPress app so I can create blog posts on the fly.  While I find it a little tedious to type an entire post on my phone, it’s great for starting posts and uploading photos from your phone. You can also approve comments, reply to comments, and check your stats.

So those are a few apps that help me keep it all together.  What apps do you use to stay organized and on track? I’d love to hear about them in the comments!

Brittney is a native Arkansan with a love for bright lights and big city. She often escapes her 20-acre home south of Fort Smith to shop, eat, and catch a concert in the big city. She blogs about her life, her faith, her adventures, her dogs, and her country home at Razorback Britt.