You try to understand…

I Peter 3:8 (LB), "Be full of sympathy toward each other, loving one another with tender hearts and humble minds." 

He's saying here that you need to be sympathetic and empathetic.  Once you've set down in a peace conference with a person you're having a problem with – your husband, your wife, a parent, a teenager, a partner at work, a neighbor – the first thing you do is listen.  Listen to them.  You don't talk.  You don't try to get your point across.  You just listen to them.  You may learn something.

Why do you do this?  Because listening shows you care.  People don't care how much I know until they know how much I care.  So the starting point is to listen because if you care you'll be aware and you empathize with their feelings, you let them say their piece before you deal with it. 

Sympathy is saying, "I'm sorry you hurt."  Empathy says, "I hurt with you."  The Bible says to "weep with those who weep, rejoice with those who rejoice." 

I Peter 3:7 (Ph), "You husbands should try to understand your wives."   It says, "try".  It doesn't say you're going to be able to it just says you should try to understand your wives. 

Philippians 4:13 (NIV), "I can do all things through CHRIST who strengthens me." 

Cartoon:  Wife said, "I know you believe you understand what you think I said but I'm not sure you realize what you heard is not what I meant." 

Andy Capp:  His wife says, "What's the point of being on speaking terms when you're not on listening terms?"

Sigmund Freud:  "Despite my 30 years of research into the feminine soul I have not yet been able to answer the great question, what does a woman want?"

So you try to understand your wife.

Just a thought from the front porch...