Embrace Your Differences

When my husband and I first met we thought we had so much in common.  We have the same favorite ice cream: mint chocolate chip.  We both like to listen to music and watch crime shows.  We both grew up with parents that worked really hard to earn enough money to care for their kids.  We both have a strong work ethic.  We both love kids.  But the longer we have been married the more we realize how different we really are.  And we are also learning that that is a good thing.  As the Lord himself said, "It is not good for man to be alone.  I will make a helper suitable for him."  God didn't say, "I will make a helper that is just like him."  Why are our differences good?  Balance.  We balance each other's weaknesses and strengths.  My husband is an energetic person that runs at 100mph, crashes hard, and wakes up raring to go all over again.  I run at about 40mph.  I am pretty even keel and don't get too excited or worked up about much of anything.  My husband will go out and immediately buy something that we need without giving it a second thought.  I will go without in order to save money.  I will wear stained shirts until my husband forces me to buy new clothes.  We need these differences in personalities to make our marriage work and help our family survive.  My husband has made a lot of split second decisions that have saved us a lot of money and heartache.  He saved us from loosing all our investments when the economy turned south.  If I had been in charge of making that decision, I would have waited, prayed about it, asked family for advice, and procrastinated until it was too late.  But sometimes my desire to never spend money has helped us to not live above our means.  See we balance each other out.  Maybe it is the social worker in me, but I enjoy our differences; it is like a new case study everyday.  Sometimes those differences frustrate us and make us crazy, but I am truly thankful for the mate God has given me and even more thankful that he is not just like me.  Try to remember this when you are frustrated with your mate.  God didn't want him or her to think just like you do.  We would be in a real mess if they did.