Those Darn Differences

Differences. Aren’t they annoying? Isn’t it just so lame when you want to do something different than your husband for a date night? Isn’t it hard when you’re crying because you think your husband is ignoring you, but in reality he’s just got his mind on a really hard school project? Isn’t it a pain when your husband doesn’t mind being late for things but it drives you nuts? Yeah, sometimes these things are annoying and hard and painful. But who cares? I’m grateful for the differences my husband and I have. Our differences seem to coordinate so well that they help round us out as a couple. I might think that going out to dinner is the perfect date, but if we always did that, we’d be broke. My husband might think that grabbing a movie from Redbox and eating popcorn is the perfect date, but if we always did that we’d get fat from the popcorn. I may think he’s ignoring me and get all emotional, and he might be too focused on homework, but this gives us the chance to learn to be selfless and mindful of someone else.

I recently took a little personality test for one of my classes. It wasn’t anything big or scientific, but it got me thinking about differences. The test had questions like “Are you good at math?” Then it had questions such as “Can you discern how other people are feeling?” These two traits, being logical and being emotionally aware, are completely different. But where the heck would the world be if only one of them existed? Without math, not only would we not have complicated things like computers and space shuttles, we wouldn’t even have seemingly simple things like money or compasses. And yet on the other hand, if there wasn’t compassion in the world, we would have a lot more war, a lot less fun and games, and a lot more disease. If no one had compassion what would motivate people to become the doctors and scientists who cure sickness and save lives?

Differences are so crucial to the world that we live in. They are crucial to our communities, and they are so incredibly crucial to our families. I’m so grateful for the differences between my husband and I. I’m glad we are the same with regards to what we believe, what we think it most important, and what we want to do with our lives, but I’m glad that we have those small differences that make our lives interesting!