I promise I’ll never give you fake.

Consider it a personal goal I have never to be fake. But sometimes it happens on accident, doesn’t it? Especially with bloggers. See, everything is going along fine and then wham! You get hit by something. And if you are like me, that something takes me out of my normal-daily-life (ie. no writing) and when I finally am sitting back down to the computer I find myself overwhelmed trying to make up for lost time. Time writing gear reviews. Time checking in with social media. Time finding my muse again… And often that post, highlighting how things have really been in life, goes unwritten.

I am not going to do that this time.

A few weeks ago I wrote about the “Rose and the Thorn.” How I was learning that to accept the roses in life, I must learn to deal with the thorns. I am still learning this.

We have a yellow rose bush out back. I have no claim or part in its being there. And very little claim to its thriving nature. I’ve never seen a bush put out so many blooms. Or so many thorns. So I watch it from a distance. I keep care to give it lots of space, cause I never get close without getting pricked.

Well, last week all my little thorns in life, (parenting concerns, back pain, business) attacked with vigor. Saturday I woke up immobilized with back pain. By Monday my back no longer mattered, because I had the world’s worst sore throat. It was so bad I would burst into tears whenever I had to swallow and finally took to spitting in a bowl. By Tuesday my poor son got the sore throat too. And by Wednesday his sore throat and swollen lymph node led us to the doctor which led us to the Children’s Hospital ER. It was a wild ride.

All the sudden I found myself in the midst of a raging storm. My prickers had turned to wooden bats beating me over the head. Backpacking trips and climbing and triathlons were a distant concern. And honestly, in my momentary crisis I really did wonder if it would ever end. If my back would ever get better. In tears I even asked my husband, “Will this horrible sore throat ever go away?!” I can tend to get stuck in my thinking…

One week later, we’ve trimmed back the gnarly rose bush with anti-biotics, PT and a lot of sleep. We even went camping for a night out at Antelope Island. We needed some healing. And we got it. Life is starting to bloom again.

I guess I just want whoever reading this to know, every storm will pass. Sometimes not as fast as we’d like it too. Stay the course. Keep your eyes up and out of the muck. Press on friends.

 And so, Lord, where do I put my hope? My only hope is in you. Psalm 39:6-8