Tuna Fish Face

My wife made lunch one Saturday afternoon about three weeks into our marriage.  Anything my beautiful bride did was perfect.  She could do no wrong.  Birds joined her in song and forest creatures helped tie bows in her hair. 

She placed the plate in front of me as I expected a perfectly cooked steak...  And what do my eyes behold? .  Tuna salad on baby spinach leaves.

The familiar scent from my youth mixed with the dreaded sight caused my eyes to roll and head to tilt back into  Sense the Sarcasm territory.

Much to my surprise, my reaction didn’t sit well with Rachel.  She picked her plate up and silently ate in the living room.  (To her credit, she did NOT throw me out the kitchen window.)

I thought I hated Tuna.  I thought I knew better.  My opinion of Tuna was more important than hers…

And that’s been my setting for as long as I can remember.  My opinion good. Your opinion baaaad.

I’m reminded of a passage in Philippians, “…in humility, consider others better than yourselves.” 

I’m wracking my brain trying to count the number of times I’ve done that. 

It’s 10:50 pm and I’m in the middle of a text argument with a friend about a Facebook post.  His opinion is not as valid as mine.  His points aren’t as wise as mine.  His B.O., on the other hand, is definitely better than mine.

How hard is it to give REAL worth to the ideas and opinions of others? 

Even more telling…  How hard is it to even LISTEN to someone giving an opinion that differs from my own?

The International Listening Association (and with a name like that, who can argue?!?) gives a devastating statistic:  Most of us are distracted, preoccupied or forgetful about 75% of the time we should be listening.

That knocked the wind out of me because I think my stats were WORSE!

Instead of planning my next verbal assault, what happens if I attempt to understand what my smelly friend is feeling? 

What if I look for common ground with him from which we can work out the disagreement?

Change comes slowly, doesn’t it?

Seven years into marriage and I’m just NOW starting to listen actively to my wife.

I could have saved myself a lot of trouble if I would have just learned from the tuna. 

After Rachel left the table, I followed her…

“No!  Please!  Comeback!  Look! I’m eating it.  I’m EATING IT!

… 

“Wait.  This is pretty good!  Seriously.  It’s good!  NO, I’M NOT JUST SAYING THAT!”

I love tuna salad.  Maybe there’s hope for the future.  Hopefully I win this battle before my son has to do the same.  Tuna salad all around!

Woops.

Anyone know how to get five year old eyes to roll back down to normal?