DOWNPLAY YOUR DIFFERENCES
By Mary Hunt Webb
Posted Sunday, July 31, 2011
My husband’s favorite flavor for pie is blueberry. However, I prefer lemon. Similarly, he likes science fiction movies while I enjoy romances. These preferences could be points of division for us, but we have learned to compromise.
[Photographer: Mary Hunt Webb]
When we share a dessert, neither of us insists on having our favorite flavor. Instead, we often choose cherry because that is one on which we agree. Although I have gone with him to see science fiction features and he has attended romance films with me, we watch more mysteries than any other type of movie because we both enjoy them. That’s because we determined early in our marriage not to let our differences separate us.
My own grandparents never reached that level of agreement. Although they were both Christians and believed that Jesus was the only Son of God, they had grown up in different denominations. After their marriage, they continued to attend different churches while they lived in cities where those denominations had churches.
[Photo courtesy of Stockvault.net]
However, when they lived in a small town, they attended the one denomination that had a church there. When they moved again to a city, they resumed attending separate churches until my grandmother’s death. I often wondered why they didn’t find a denomination they could agree on in the city. It seems wasteful that they spent all those years worshipping apart when they were both Christians and could have attended church together!
My husband and I have enjoyed attending church services as well as many church-sponsored functions together throughout our marriage. I cannot imagine having missed the opportunity to be together during those events.
From the start, we have agreed on the Trinity. Both of us acknowledge that God is our Heavenly Father, that Jesus is His Son and our Savior, and that the Holy Spirit guides us. We also believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. Thirdly, we have prayed together throughout our marriage - often with other family members as well. When we focus on the Trinity, read the Bible every day, and emphasize communication with our Creator, then our differences seem small.
Let us not waste our opportunities to pull together so that we won’t pull apart.
Amos 3:3 “Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?” (New King James Version)
[Photo courtesy of Stockvault.net]
