Sometimes I wonder how compatible my wife and I really are. In lots of areas we fit together well, but when it comes to movie selection we are opposites.

For instance, last night we thought of going to the theatre, but the one movie out of umpteen choices that we could agree upon was going to start too late for Lily’s liking. The alternative was to rent a movie at home.

I went to work at finding something that I liked and Lil might be able to tolerate but after about a half hour of watching trailers I kind of gave up. I’d seen several that I would rent in a flash but not with Lily.

We are so opposite that way. She likes romantic movies that are also a little funny … and you know those movies are found under the genre of “Sappy”.

I, on the other hand, like movies that are mostly action. My motto is if nothing’s going to get blown up and no one’s going to get shot at, it’s really not worth seeing.

There is one tiny area that we have in common: we both like movies that have some comedy in them.

I don’t really like straight comedies because they tend to also be very stupid movies. And I know it’s not nice to use the word “stupid” any more, so instead I’ll just say, Jim Carrey, Will Ferrell, Seth Rogen. I could use more words, but I’m sure you get the picture.

Lily feels the same way, so we look for movies that are funny but not ridiculous.

So when Lily looks for a movie we can watch together she looks for something romantic and a little funny. When I look for a movie to watch with her it’s an action movie that has some funny lines in it. That’s the best we can do.

Last night I found nothing matching our criteria. Quite frankly, they don’t make many movies in those categories.

I figure the movie industry must do a lot of polling to find out what people like to watch, and if they’re not making many advent-edies or rom-edies, then there must be something wrong with Lily and I.

Either that or the movie industry has a secret plan to break up marriages. You know that’s not a far-fetched theory when you think of the content out there that’s degrading and damaging to marriage … maybe there’s something there for the conspiracy theorists to work on.

That still doesn’t help my problem when I want to go to the theatre or stay at home and watch a movie with my wife. It doesn’t help us feel compatible either.

I’m not sure how we are going to solve this dilemma, but last night Lily got busy working on a project and I . . . well, I watched a movie that had some pretty big explosions in it.

Here’s the thing: In a small group setting we look at the same Bible passage and glean from it together. But there are areas of your life that need specific and personal application. Don’t neglect a personal time with God, just because you study the Bible with others. You need both.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How have you neglected personal growth because you focussed on group input?  I’d love to hear from you. You can leave your comment below.