Eternal Mystery

“It sounds as if you and your husband have been having problems for a long time,” the counselor said to his patient. “When did they start?”

“When he tried to get in the wedding picture!” the wife scowled.

Another husband/wife joke. The differences between men and women are an inexhaustible source of material for comedians, punsters, or just the average person. After all, we can all relate.

Just this week a face book friend was bemoaning that her all-male family, a husband and three almost-grown sons, just didn’t get it when she needed the right response from them concerning her feelings in a situation. All her female friends, including myself, commiserated. We’d all been there.

But let’s face it. Do we really want our men to be so sensitive? How could they fulfill their God-given role of being a buffer between their family and the world if they were easily offended, read something into every situation, and were as in-tune with their feelings as are most of us females?

My husband and I raised four sons, and I must admit, I enjoyed their straight forward, uncomplicated personalities. They usually meant what they said, and said what they meant. Their brains were not sensing hidden meanings in conversations or interpreting looks and facial expressions. And they were fair. They had a sense of justice that could easily overlook emotions and do the right thing.

My two daughters, though, were more like me. In fact, we were so much alike, we had our moments. Oh, I loved the things we had in common--chatting, shopping, understanding--and they’re my dearest friends today, but they thought too much like me. God seems to gift females with a special awareness, which can be a two-edged sword, equipping us for nurturing and protecting, yet giving us insight and a questioning nature. (Someone said the word “why” should be deleted from a wife’s vocabulary.)

I can see traits in my 4-year-old granddaughter that point to female reasoning already. I suspect she has learned to go over her father’s head in getting her way. She prays about it. Last week she prayed that God would tell Santa to bring her a pop-up Jasmine book. (Her daddy thinks she has too many toys already.) Jamie, our son, takes care of the children while his wife works, an arrangement they made when they started their family. Anne-Marie is beginning to see this might not be the norm, and she was heard praying the other night that her mommy would stay home with her while her daddy went to work. Early spirituality, or feminine wiles? Either way, those wheels are turning!