Transparency

For Christmas I got my children a present that was so fun, I also gifted one to myself! It is an LCD writing tablet that is basically a dry-erase board meets magna-doodle. It feels like an electronic device, in functionality it's just a blank piece of paper (powered by batteries). There is something highly satisfying about doodling away, and then pushing a little button and seeing it all disappear. Having lived long enough to see the exponential explosion of technology still makes me giddy. It's come so far that in my childrens' classrooms they have whiteboards that are hooked up to the teachers computer. I remember the transformation from chalkboard to whiteboard and getting excited when I would walk into a classroom that had upgraded to the next generation of learning. Education between the chalkboard era and whiteboard era led to more tech. It must have been a math teacher tired of writing and erasing equations and choking on chalk dust who invented the overhead projector and transparencies. I certainly remember the dinosaur looking contraption most in my math classes. My 9th grade geometry teach was a wizard at preparing her transparencies before class, laying a blank one over the math problems and teaching us methods. She could crowd the top of the overhead projector with transparencies and have color coding and layers and all the goodness that geometry should have. It was really quite genius. As was the very transparency itself. A clear sheet, that could be written on, erased, and used again. Light shone through the bottom of the sheet and through mirrors and magnifying glass the image could be cast from horizontal to vertical. From 8x11 inches to 4x4 feet. It allowed the teacher comfort and the ability for preparation and the student access to learning from anywhere in the classroom.
How can we apply transparency in our marriages? This idea is something that my husband has pinpointed as one of the key principles that help make our marriage strong. Transparency leads to trust and trust leads to unity. Transparency is more than just "no secrets". It is a clearness in marriage. Clear with intentions, clear with thoughts, clear with actions. It helps break down any facades you may think you need to have. If you can't be your absolute bear-bones self with your spouse, then with whom can you be you? My husband is an expert at seeing right through any of my emotional fronts. He always knows when and how to succor me in my hours of need. He always takes the time to tell me about his ideas, his desires, his dreams, his fears. No thought is too small or too big to share with your spouse. Next time you are nervous to admit or say something out loud, just try it. You can be so clear with your intentions as to say, "I want to be more transparent..." As you work to improve this, it will become easier every time.
One factor needed for a transparency to work in the classroom is the light that shines through it. Likewise, couples need to find the light that shines through in their relationship. For us, it is the light of our Savior Jesus Christ. For others it may be grounding themselves in nature. Whatever light you depend on, let it shine through your marriage. When we are transparent with one another, and let light shine, then our efforts are magnified. And when we find fault or error, we can erase those mistakes and start with a clean sheet. When a teacher uses a transparency they are enlarging his or her work. When transparency is found in a marriage, then the trust, confidence and love will be enlarged as well.
I thought perhaps laptops and screen projectors had retired the overhead projector and transparency sheet. But just this weekend I was at a high school watching my daughter play basketball and saw in a classroom that old familiar dinosaur shape. Perhaps some tools will never go out of style. Certainly transparency in a marriage is one of those tools.