Saturday, July 14, 2012

A Martian with a Wild Heart

Exploring the Universe has always been of interest to me. God shows off His creative side in the different colors, sizes, and atmospheres of each planet. It’s like a great dance the way all of them move around each other, and around the sun, keeping everything in balance.

Mars is one of my favorite planets for two reasons:  it’s red (my second favorite color), and it’s the fourth planet from the Sun (my favorite number). I know, terribly scientific of me; I’ll try to keep things more simplistic from now on. Earthlings got to see Mars for the first time on this date in 1965, when the Mariner 4 transmitted photos almost eight months after being launched on a flyby mission. Two years later on December 21 (also my birthday), communications were terminated.

When I hear the name Mars, I think of the popular book Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, by John Gray. It became one of the top non-fiction books of the 90’s. Since I began that decade finishing third grade, and ended it starting University, I didn’t feel the need to read it. Plus, I’m often very literal. However, I understand this as metaphor, and in my research I discovered that his basic premise is simple:  men and women are as different as beings from different planets.

His basic assumption is true, and I’m sure he made many great points about relationships. I imagine he chose these two planets because Mars was the Roman god of War, and Venus the Roman goddess of love and sexuality. However, there is another book I’ve actually read, dealing with the differences between men and women, that I found to be more interesting. It’s called Wild At Heart, written by John Eldredge, describing how men and women are created in the image of God.

In his book he presented this familiar concept in a different way. Eldredge says, “Deep in his heart, every man longs for a battle to fight, an adventure to live, and a beauty to rescue. That is how he bears the image of God; that is what God made him to be.” These are also important characteristics of God. Complimentary to this is Eldredge's assertion that women reflect similar aspects of God’s heart:  we want to be fought for, to join in the adventure, and to unveil our beauty.

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