Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
New Visions
Being with my Wife

Being with my Wife

Last updated on: June 3, 2021 at 5:18 am by Karl J. Forehand

Being with my Wife 2021-05-30T06:14:51-06:00 Karl J. Forehand

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

For the past few months, I have been working 53-hour work weeks. I work on an assembly line and they tell me we’re still behind. Yesterday was the first Saturday I haven’t had to work in a long time. This weekend is special because we also have Monday to ourselves. My wife is a teacher and she is celebrating her reprieve from her usual 9-month marathon of working long hours.

So, when we got some time this weekend, we practiced being together. I say practice because it’s not always natural when we are used to going different directions and being busy in our chosen vocations. Yesterday, we planted some things in the garden and pulled some weeds. We didn’t by any stretch complete this task — we just played with it a little. Laura cut my hair. I always say the same thing, “That’s a lot of hair for a bald guy!” It’s funny to me. We cooked several meals together and later, I read a chapter of a book I’m reading called “The Enchanted Life” out loud to my partner. While we were in the car searching for plants, we listened to another chapter. All-in-all we’re five chapters in this weekend and we find ourselves discussing it periodically.

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

This summer, we are visiting friends in Florida. We can’t wait to be in person with these online friends. In a way, it’s an experiment to meet people first online and then become closer in person. 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. Just talking and doing little projects together doesn’t sound all that exciting – but, to us, it’s the thing we most look forward to when we’re doing our 6 days of labor.

Since I wrote the book, Being: A Journey Toward Presence and Authenticity, I have been discovering new ways almost every day where I can be where I am and who I am. I didn’t write the book as an expert — I wrote it as a practitioner. And I am practicing every day this intention to be present and authentic. The lessons I’m learning from nature alone are breath-taking and cause me to wonder how I ever existed any other way than this.

I avoid using “best friend” language when talking about Laura. She is so much more than my buddy and using that language minimizes what we have. I’m a normal person with normal weaknesses, but since the day I met her, I can’t imagine spending my life with anyone else. Cultivating that relationship is somewhat like working in my garden. The more often I work at it, the better the outcome.

Today, we’re going to record a podcast, have dinner with a friend and probably, burn some more of the mattress. I know it’s not a very aggressive schedule, but it’s enough for a day of rest.

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’s depth and richness. This is especially true when I speak of being with the one I love most.

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

Laura and I get to share our experience daily, but I hope that my written stories bring us closer together.

Be where you are, Be who you are,

Karl Forehand

Order Being: A Journey Toward Presence and Authentic

Karl Forehand is a former pastor, podcaster, and award-winning author. His books include Apparent Faith: What Fatherhood Taught Me About the Father’s Heart and The Tea Shop. He is the creator of The Desert Sanctuary podcast. 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!

**Support us on Patreon * The Desert Sanctuary Website**

Previous Post

June 1, 2021

Myth, Stories and Tradition

Next Post

June 6, 2021 My Feet Hurt

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Abuse Addiction Advent adventure Alpha Male Animals Answers Attachment Attitude authenticity Authenticty Authentiicity Awareness being Bible Black Community BLM body awarenss book Books Bravery Bullying Bypassing Certainty Certianty Chamge change children Christianity Christmas Church Comfort community Compaasion Compassion Complementarian Complementarianism Conditioning Consciousness Contemplation Control Conversation Converstations Covid-19 Creation Darkness Death Debate deconstruction demons depression desert Devil Disciples discussion Divine dreams Easter Eclipse Empathy Essence evolution evolve faith fatherhood Fear fiction Flood Focus Focusing Focussing Future Genesis Goals God Gratitude grief growth Guns Hate healing Health Heart Hell Holiday Hypnosis ignorance Improvement infallible Inner Child Integrity Intuition Jesus Jezebel Journey King LGBTQ+ Love MAGA Marriage meditation Men Mercy Message metaphysical Mindfulness Misogyny Mourning Music Mystic mystical Narcissism Nationalism Nature New Year Novel Nutrition Organization other Pain Pandemic parenting Pastors Patriarchy Patriotism Personal Growth Plan Poet poets Police politics Power practice praise Prayer presence pro-life Problem Solving Progress prolife Prophet prophets Purity Culture Purpose Queer Questions Racism Rape Rapture reconstruction Recovery Religion Resolutions Restoration Resurrection Retribution Reviews Root Cause Sanctuary Satan SBC Scripture Seeking Self-Care Self-esteem Seminary Sex Shadow shame social justice social media solitude Spirits Spirituality stillness Story Survivor Thanksgiving Theologians Theology Tradition Trauma travel Trump Uncategorized Unchurching Universe Violence Vision Voice Volunteer Vulnerability War Women Word worship Writing

Select a Month September 2026 August 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

True or False: Ezra read the Book of the Law to the people from morning until noon.

Select your answer to see how you score.

TRUE FALSE

Books by This Author Books by The Desert Sanctuary

See All Titles »