Fused

‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one. Mark 10:7-8 (NIV)

I am enjoying my new glass. When I take glass out of the kiln, I bring it to the kitchen where I wash off any residue from the firing. Then, I set it beside the sink to dry. I just love a plate I made of some with waves of cream and various shades of green. A few days earlier, I fired one out of some clear, iridescent glass with a light design almost like fish scales. I was disappointed in how it came out. You cannot really see the design, and the plate looks very plain. The two plates were sitting side by side near the sink when in a rush to fix supper last night, I stacked the clear plate on top of the green. The difference was so amazing, I stopped what I was doing just to admire it for a while. With the green color shining through, it brought out the best in the iridescent plate. I could hardly believe I had created something so beautiful by accident. Ordinarily, I would not have put them together because they are of two different kinds of glass and cannot be fired together. However, I think I am going to combine them using a cold fusing technique (fancy glass talk for glue!). It made me think of my husband and me. Although we have known each other since we were babies, grew up in the same town and went to the same church, we are very different people. He is cautious when it comes to finances, stability and our home, but chooses more risky activities like motorcycle riding, standing on the top rung of a ladder to use a chain saw or crawling around underneath tractors and cars to repair them. I, on the other hand, play it free and easy with our money and assume things will be okay rather than plan for the future. Yet, until I bought a horse, I chose more sedate activities like reading, sewing and gardening. He doesn’t care for intellectual stimulation, preferring cops and robber shows or watching the Speed network, while I love school and learning. On the other hand, I cannot add 2 + 2 without a calculator, while he can rattle off by memory intricate combinations like parts codes and telephone numbers. He hates to travel preferring his own bed each night. I would pack my bags and leave for Timbuktu tomorrow if I could. That’s just the tip of the iceberg of how different we are from each other. Early in our marriage, things were rocky for a while as our differences became more evident. We had some intense fights as each of us wanted our own way. Thankfully, God was the glue that held us together until we matured and recognized how much we need each other. Now, together we give each other balance. I can’t imagine what I would do without my husband. Like those two pieces of glass, he brings out the best in me.