EQUAL

EQUAL.... what does this mean? (apart from being some kind of sweetner and artificial sugar stuff)
According to Dictionary.com a couple of meanings are:
1. the same as
2. having the same privileges, status or rights

In the gospel, Men and women are equal in the sight of God. - we are different and have different roles, but God sees us as the same, equal partners working together to acheive perfection.

I was thinking about how when I was younger and would stay at my Mum's house for a weekend, she always gave all of us children EQUAL amounts of everything - cereal for breakfast, biscuits, treats - EVERYTHING! - I now realise that it was to save on the arguments between us and also to save my poor Mum from trying to figure out a solution to the argument or having to re-distribute whatever it was just to even it all out again....

Anyway, in our house, whenever we have treats - depending on what the treat is it's always equally distributed between Matthew and I - we find this is a good way to do things - neither of us feel better than the other, or choose to say that we deserve more than the other because we work harder and we both have the same opportunities presented to us - it's how we choose to use our equally distributed thing... often one of us chooses to eat them all straightaway and then watch as the other slowly eats - not sharing with us, which at times can lead to begging the other person to share, and the one still eating their goodies gently reminding... "you've already eaten all of yours" ahhhhhhhhhhh! It's so painful to watch the other eat - I often have to leave the room until all is consumed - and I remind myself, "we had an equal share - you chose to eat your's really fast Jasmine, that'll learn ya - you cant expect Matthew to share his with you when you have nothing left to share with him"

Anyway, this is how my story goes....

It's tuesday night and I'm in the dining room on the computer doing some work, Matthew is in the lounge on his computer doing who knows what... he comes out and says, "what treat are we having tonight? Icecream or Tim Tams" I say I dont really mind... and then I decide I need the chocolate fix to keep me going with my work so I say Tim Tams.... Matthew opens the packet and holds them out - I quickly grab one and eat it fast - which means he has to eat one now to be EQUAL.... I continue working.... I hear the rustle of the Tim Tam packet and when I turn around I see a nicely stacked pile like this....

I laugh and Matthew says, "what? there's 9 in a packet - so we get another 3 and a half each"

EQUAL! I love this marriage business - it's little things like this that remind me that we are equal partners working together and that we should treat each other equally in all things - no one is better than the other! :-P