On the Edge

"How can Jacob survive?  He is so small!" - Amos 7:2

"Two are better than one,
    because they have a good return for their labor: 
 If either of them falls down,
    one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
    and has no one to help them up.
 Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
    But how can one keep warm alone?
 Though one may be overpowered,
    two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken." - Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

"Suddenly I realized - two people isn't enough. You need backup.  If you're only two people, and someone drops off the edge, then you're on your own. Two isn't a large enough number.  You need three at least." - About a Boy

My poor hubby was sick all last week, and it really got worse over the weekend.  I went to bed Saturday night overwhelmed by the precariousness of our family.  In About a Boy, Marcus likens the web of relationships in our lives to acrobats in a pyramid. He says that it doesn't matter so much who is in your pyramid so long as you find someone else to take their place before they go away.

Our family is a very unstable pyramid right now. There is only a mommy and a daddy and a baby, and the baby doesn't really carry his weight.  When the mommy or the daddy gets into trouble, the whole thing starts to topple.

Fortunately, the nice people at the urgent care clinic were able to help Mike and prescribe him some good medicine, so he is feeling much better today, and our pyramid feels much stronger. We were able to come back from the edge.

I was reminded this weekend of two things:

1) when I don't make healthy choices, it effects more than just me.  Little things like eating well, getting enough sleep, and exercising are important in maintaining the health of our pyramid, and

2) we need to keep up the hard work of integrating more people into our pyramid.  It isn't easy to coordinate activities, prepare our house for guests, invest in other people's lives, and everything else that comes with having close friends, but not having close friends is even more difficult.

A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.  Imagine how strong a cord of five or ten strands is!

Check out these crazy human pyramids!