Taking a Moment to Appreciate the Differences

I've always thought that the differences between a married couple are very healthy for the relationship. It's what shapes us into better individuals and a stronger unit as we see through the other's eyes; changing for the better or just accepting the strange and cockamamie differneces (I'm forever using that word now!). Or, as Mr. Malone so nicely put it a few weeks ago, it's our differences that complement each other.

Of course, you have "rights" and "wrongs" in your principles; in which case there should be no compromise.

But then you have these things called "preferences." One is not right over the other. There isn't just one right way to fold laundry, replace the toilet paper on the dispenser, how to leave your toothpaste tube at the sink, pattern in mowing the lawn, styling your hair, way to drink coffee. And the list goes on.

This probably won't sound too foreign to other married couples, and perhaps those of you who have surpassed our 4 year mark can laugh out loud here knowing all too well. Yes, sometimes we remain stubborn about our preferences.

And sometimes, we just have different methods of getting things done....

Sometimes we struggle trying to see things from the other's perspective.

And communication is important; in our marriage counseling, a whole chapter was devoted to it. Well, we're not always perfect at that....

And then there's the silent way of expressing when someone's upset...

 

But overall, when I see the BIG picutre--as in, beyond the "I'm right and you're wrong" mentality--I'm so glad that we are different. Not only have we grown individually by working through our differences, but we've grown together coming to appreciate them rather than resent them.

Patience, love and joy have been the most productive outcomes of our differences--and I wouldn't trade that for anything. So while at times, we can look at each other like the other is the weird one,

with some patience and love, we eventually come around.