Recently, Brandon and I had the opportunity to go on a sort-of marriage retreat and learn tips and get advice about being married while living overseas. We learned a lot – about ourselves, each other and how cool God is in the way He creates people. The biggest concept I took away from the experience is learning how to embrace differences. We all have different temperaments (extroverted/introverted, task-oriented/relationship-oriented); ways we process information (internally or externally); communication styles; likes/dislikes, the list goes on and on. Wow, all of that could really make a mess if we were left to our own devices in navigating through the differences! We all know what it’s like to meet someone who is different than us. Sometimes, the differences may click, but more often, the differences tend to rub us the wrong way. But if this “different” person is also made in the image of God, just like me, maybe I should I learn to love the differences. This is the main thing I took away from our experience. Differences in relationship (marriage, dating, friendship, team, coworkers) make the fruit bowl a little fuller; the salad more exciting. Who wants to only eat apples or have a salad with only lettuce? Maybe the person who processes differently than I or who always tells their opinions in meetings or who just can’t understand my myriad of emotions or who speaks a different language that I cannot understand (yet) is just the orange to my apple; the cucumber paired with my tomato, and when I look at it that way I can be much more accepting, understanding, compassionate and forgiving. Thanks God for how full you are and for making us (each one of us!) in your image.
(This picture is a pizza I made here and expresses differences…different toppings all piled together to make something taste good…just like us, haha!)