Take me camping.

Lately, I have really let you down in my writing.

I haven't made time for it. Honestly.

There is time. I could write instead of watch a show, but sometimes it's nice to decompress with mindless activity.
However...

I've had the worst heartache over lack of verbal conversation that's going on, everywhere.
The other day I "spoke" a 'deep' conversation with my son through a text message. Granted, he wasn't home, but it really should have waited, and I should have made him talk to me about this, and not hide behind a screen.
This is what we do now, though.

I've been pondering this for several months, and then, God knew I wasn't making time to write, he led me to someone else's blog.
I couldn't have written this any better.

From Brie.

I look around today and I wonder if we wouldn’t be better taking a step back in time where we could focus more on important matters, and less on trivial ones. I see the things around me that cause so much unneeded stress, and I truly believe that the principalities and powers of darkness wish to destroy what God has created. God favors families. He favors love, time together, and focus on cultivating those relationships. What I see today is in direct opposition of that, yet those things have developed slowly over time, so much so that we don’t even notice them deteriorating the fabric of family.

Our pre-teens and teenagers are so absorbed in their Snapchat and Instagram that they can’t even come up for air. Not that we notice. We’re buried in our Facebook newsfeed or hottest new game app.

The normalcy of public school education with its ever increasing curriculum demands are swallowed like good medicine. The school year gets longer, testing increases, and hours of homework creep into the family time. So children that already spend 8-9 hours away from home are spending their evening hours doing more projects, reports, and extra credit assignments.

Mom and dad are too exhausted to help much. They’re tired because they’re putting in more hours. Dual working parents are the majority. And while the cost of living has definitely increased over time, I wonder how much of our “necessities” are truly that? We work more to be able to buy more, yet we hardly have time to enjoy all our purchases. We save all year long for a week long vacation that leaves us exhausted and in need of a day off from our off days.

A lot of our hard-earned money is spent on activities. So. Many. Activities. We spend more time driving to activities, purchasing gear, costumes, and accessories for our activities, or working on our off days to raise funds for our activities. Activities where we watch other people teach, coach, and mentor our children. Is this the time together we’re craving? Makes you think.

I've been begging to go camping, and I think it's my heart stirring this around. Because I know that the very best and heartfelt conversations we've ever had together happen around that campfire. I know that the phone comes out to take a photo, maybe. But then it gets put up. I know that the horseshoes get thrown, or KanJam gets played. I know that we all pitch in, and unwind. 

I believe it's so important.
So, as I sit and watch these kids look down at their device, or myself as it's the first thing I view in the morning, I pray I remember what's most important, and that I take a step back and put mine down more often. 

xo

Misty