𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝑻𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝑺𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕

Your fingers on are not the same. They vary in length and size. It would be impractical for you to grip things with both precision and power had they been the same. In other words, they would be extremely clumsy.

Your arms are of the same in length, yet your dominant arm (right or left) is stronger than the other. Together, they work to allow you to perform all sorts of motions and tasks. Without one of your arms, your center of gravity would change dramatically. You would be handicapped!

Now, think of your marriage as your body. Your arms represent you and your significant other. The quantity and quality of the efforts & contributions you both make towards the success of that marriage are not the same. You are both likely to contribute more in certain aspects than the other.

Because the right hand tends to be stronger than the left (for right handers), it invariably does most of the heavy lifting, while the left hand gives support. Because one of you is likely to have more financial power, by default, that partner will do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to family finances.

Intimacy is a crucial ingredient in matrimony. Without it, you would be in a sexless marriage. One of you will be strongly suited at building emotional, intellectual or sexual bond than the other. Such spouse will have to take lead in initiating the sharing of feelings, emotions and ideas or physical intimacy like hugging, holding hands and sexual intercourse.

The same goes for love and commitment, honesty and trust, communication, selflessness or gratitude as well as patience and humility. One partner is likely to have a higher level of love, commitment, selfness, gratitude, patience or humility than the other. In which case such partner is likely to give more of what they have than the other.

No one person can be gifted with every trait desirable in a marriage partner. No single individual is that complete, wholesome or perfect. God, in his infinite wisdom, does not give you everything. To be a complete human being, there must be a balance between your strengths and weaknesses.

Marriage then becomes a mishmash of individual strengths and weakness between two imperfect people, each balancing out the other at the point of weakness.

The success of a marriage depends on a number of things, all of which cannot be spilt 50/50 between couples. For example, a 50/50 split might not work when one partner earns significantly more. It may leave the person who earns less feeling financially strained if they can’t save or allocate enough to pay down debt. Giving oneself wholesomely and with all you’ve got therefore, without holding back, is one of the fundamental keys to making your marriage successful.

But because we are human, the spouse giving more in whichever aspect is likely to feel overwhelmed, alone and frustrated at times. And require a little help from their mate; just like the dominant hand requires help from the weaker hand sometimes.

It is called needing each other.

The weaker hand reciprocates by doing what it can, whenever it can, to make tasks easier to accomplish.

It is called teamwork.