For the past couple of months, my husband and I have been taking the Love & Respect class at our church. On the first night of the class, the author mentioned that when a man says he has nothing to wear he means one thing. However, when a woman says she has nothing to wear, she means something completely different.
I had never thought of this before. When we women say we have nothing to wear, what we really mean is we have nothing “new” to wear.
When a man says he has nothing to wear. He has nothing to wear, and he means he has nothing “clean” to wear because his clothes are all awaiting laundering.
We all know God made woman from the rib of man. We assume because we are made much the same that both genders should have the same perceptions.
I don’t know about you, but I’m so glad my husband has a different perspective than I. He sees the glass half full when I perceive it as half empty and visa versa. We need those different perspectives to open our eyes, expand our minds, and fulfill our hearts.
When we take the time to understand how our language and actions are perceived by others, we open ourselves to a new way of communication. When I’m not feeling loved, I say I’m not feeling loved. My husband didn’t grow up versed in the language of women. So I’ve learned to say what I mean in his language.
“I don’ t have anything to wear.”
“You have plenty of clothes in our closet,” he’ll say.
“But I’ve worn them all.” I can’t decided if I’ve worn that brown sweater to go out last month or was it last week?
“And you look beautiful in all of them.” Because he knows I want to look my best for him, and there he stands wearing the same shirt and tie he took me out to dinner in last time. And here I am seventeen years later, still in love with him.
Think about the people you interact with, be it your spouse, a co-worker, or the person behind you in the grocery store. The next time they say or do something that doesn’t make sense to you or offends you, remember it may just take a little change in your perspective to understand them.
Feature Image credit: Robert Meek @ creative commons flickr
