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PROGRAM D-7458
Does it come as any surprise to you to discover that men and women are very different? That is pretty common knowledge, I’d say. However, do you know why we are different—and do you appreciate the differences?
Because God created us for different purposes with different brain structures and different needs, we can observe some general psychological differences in men and women:
- Women struggle more with relational issues.
If there is a problem in one of our close relationships, we have difficulty functioning very well in other areas. That relationship struggle is on our mind day and night and we’re pretty consumed with wanting to get it resolved. Men are more able to isolate that problem and get on with the job at hand.
- Women feel excessively responsible for others.
That’s our nurture nature, and because of this, we take on guilt very easily. If something’s wrong, we figure it must be our fault. If you’ll notice, many women say “I’m sorry” a lot—not just to express sorrow for something unfortunate, but rather in some way, unconsciously or verbally taking blame. Here’s an example of this:
One woman says to another woman: “We talked so late last night, I didn’t hear my alarm clock this morning and I was late for work.”
The other woman says: “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have talked so long. I’m sorry.”
Is it her fault that she was late for work? No. Does she take on that guilt? Yes.
Same conversation between men:
One says: “We talked so late last night, I didn’t hear my alarm clock this morning and I was late for work.”
Second one answers: “Hey, man you better get a better alarm clock. You can’t afford to be late for work again.”
- Women put feelings before thoughts.
This has been seen as a weakness in women but this is the way God created us, and it’s a good thing some of us are “touchy/feely” people. Women have to work through our feelings before we can think about problem solution. Men tend to put their feelings on hold until they can think the thing through.
- Women are more sensitive than men.
When the men in our lives don’t seem to be sensitive like we are, it bothers us. We read things into it that aren’t there. Men, of course, think we are far too sensitive and we should learn to let it go and move on.
The truth is, we can both learn from each other, and we can certainly learn to appreciate the differences. Instead of trying to change that man or woman in your life—whether it’s your mate or your boss or your family member—ask God to help you understand and appreciate their strengths more.
