Image via WikipediaHaving a blogsite that keeps gaining momentum has some wonderful perks but it can me tough to manage sometimes and try to stay on top of things. It has been a real growing experience learning to juggle my personal life, my public life, as well as not only maintain a blogsite but find new ways to promote it.
One of the things that I found that really help me deal with stress is the live webcam of these two baby fire-foxes named Spark & Ember that were born at the Knoxville zoo. It is neat to be able to be logged into the webcam because whenever I need a break I can just click a button and watch them nap, play, or feed. I'm on the internet alot because of my involvment with social media.
All the attention to my blogsite that I am receiving is wonderful but with more fame and attention comes more work to maintain that momentum. Spark & Amber are like my little companions that keep me company as I go about my day (you can go to the website with the live webcam of them just by clicking the title of the blogpost).
Song of Solomon 2:15
"Catch for us the foxes,
the little foxes
that ruin the vineyards,
our vineyards that are in bloom."
These firefoxes are just too cute. I'm really glad that these aren't real foxes, the ones that go about destroying plant and animal life in people's homes and vineyards. That is what the Bible means when it says "Catch us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards..." This verse has both literal and symbolic meaning.
Symbolically it means to watch out for those little things that bring destruction to our lives, relationships, finances, dreams, visions and goals. My best example once again is to use my relationship with Marisa because it seem as if the fans out there like tuning into to this blogsite and wanting to hear more about us the same way they tune into a reality show on TV.
So what happened between us after I did my "Cross-Cultural Caring" series? Are we still going strong? Every good reality show needs a follow up! We didn't see each other for a long time and then we got connected through MSN messenger and had a great chat and got a chance to catch up. It was early in the morning and we chatting for about 25 mins. During those 25 mins I got a chance to get a feel of where our friendship was at. And I am thrilled to report that one year later, despite having to deal with two languages and two cultures, the connection in our friendship still feels fresh.
But achieving this level in our friendship wasn't easy at all. Especially in a cross-cultural relationship, there is opportunity in many different areas for misunderstanding or miscommunication to happen. It is important for me to keep plugging away and putting into practice every single one of the things I wrote in my series. I can't get lazy and neither can she. Once any of us starts to let things slide, that's when the little foxes start slinking in.
She and I have learned to nip things in the bud right away. Like a rose garden, we are constantly having to prune and oversee the state of our relationship and check in with each other. Actually, in the past little while after finishing the series, it is only then that I began to realize that our relationship is highly unlikely to deteriorate simply because she wants to make it work with me pretty badly.
Relationships don't deteriorate in one day, they deteriorate over time after years of putting off what people should have taken care of right away. I will never have that problem with her, instead I have the opposite problem that she gets anxious about stuff sometimes. Marisa tends to get really anxious if she even has the slightest notion that there is a breach in the connection between us she won't hesitate to leap on it and try and fix it ASAP. But she is learning to relax and I'm letting her know that there is plenty of room for bumps in the road. We aren't going to lose our friendship all of a sudden just because there are some days where we don't have smooth sailing :)
My hope & pray for you in this new year is that your "vineyard" will bear much fruit and the only little foxes that you will see will be the ones on a live webcam.
@cubcaretaker
