Bret Legg 
Advertisements are everywhere. Â They blare from our TVs. Â They stand out on signs and billboards along our streets and highways. Â They fill the spaces of our web pages. Â We’ve become saturated with advertisements.
Listen to last week’s Normal Marriage class to see what you’ve been missing. Â Share it with someone who might enjoy it…or need it. Â Then join us tonight as we continue figuring out what it means to have a normal marriage you can really enjoy.
Compatibility. Â It’s the idea that if you can find a person with similar personality traits, similar interests, similar backgrounds, etc. then there will be a higher probability of the relationship being successful.
But there’s a problem with this take on compatibility.
Who are the good guys and who are the bad guys? Â In the old westerns, all you had to do was see who was wearing the white hat and who was wearing the black hat. Â It’s not that easy now. Â For example… Edward Snowden. Â Good guy or bad guy? Â The NSA. Â Good guys or bad guys?
There’s a sweet spot to many things in life. Â There’s a sweet spot on a baseball bat that sends the ball over the fence. Â There’s a sweet spot for musicians where all the notes seem to come together effortlessly. Â There’s also a sweet spot in marriage, but what is it and how do you find it?
I grew up in the country with a lot of farmland and a lot of barns. Â On top of most of those barns was a weather vane. Â The weather vane was usually in the shape of a rooster or some other farm animal and it would turn in the wind till it settled in a certain direction.
We can be like one of those weather vanes.
When I was young, I fell asleep while a dentist was working on my teeth. Â I had not been given anything to relax me. Â I just fell asleep. Â The dentist couldn’t believe it, and called my mom back just to see it.
Whether it’s the dentist or something else, we all face trouble in life. Â When trouble begins to stack up or go on for a long time, we can get discouraged and overwhelmed.
It was the biggest ice storms in ten years. Â Our power went out around 8:30 in the evening, so we lit candles and fired up the gas log in the living room. Â Since the living room was the warmest place in the house, we made a bed on the floor in front of the fireplace. Â (You probably know where this is going.)
Surveyors use a benchmark to determine clear boundaries. Â A benchmark is a point of reference from which everything else is measured. Â It’s a point that’s unchanging and immovable, because a benchmark that changes will skew all the other measurements.
Whether we realize it or not, all of us operate from some sort of benchmark.