Of all the challenges people face in marriage relationships, communication is at the top of the list. Not that physical affection, money, and respect aren’t important, but without the ability to listen and express ourselves clearly, misunderstandings are inevitable which only lead to arguments, resentment, and walls.
Many of us have heard the example, ‘Men are from Mars and woman are from Venus’ and, certainly, God did make us different. Those stereotypes don’t always work, however. The Mrs and I are a mixture of Mars and Venus; sometimes, I’m more Venus and she’s more Mars. In the end, we balance each other out and have learned to understand and appreciate our differences.
That’s really the key, isn’t it; understanding our differences? So many people try to make the other person into their own image of who, or what, they should be rather than appreciating their differences and respecting them. One thing is for certain, trying to change a person we are in a relationship with is nothing less than the kiss of death because we were never made to change each other. That’s God’s job.
I’ve seen many relationships fall apart from one person trying to control the other. I’ve been in one myself. One person always trying to please the other but not being able to. The other putting unreal expectations on them trying to force them to be something they aren’t.
The first step in bridging the gap between two people is respect for how God made them and the humility to accept that we, ourselves, are not perfect either. That openness of allowing the other person to be themselves, flaws and all, along with our own humble attitude of who we are, will eventually build a bridge of mutual respect.
So tonight here’s to taking the first step in allowing those who we are in a relationship with to simply be themselves. Secondly, here’s to keeping a humble heart being the first to forgive and the last to point the finger. If we can do that, we’ll see changes happen in all our relationships for the positive.
Just for laughs, I’ll leave you with a funny clip below by Tim Hawkins about the differences between boys & girls because, even at an early age, the Mars and Venus differences are apparent...
