It’s so much easier when you have someone around who knows what she’s doing.
– Kirito
If episode eight of Sword Art Online emphasized anything, it’s this: Asuna and Kirito need each other. In some ways, their needs are more wants, like Kirito’s desire for someone of Asuna’s cooking skill to whip up some rabbit stew. In other ways, it’s more emotional, as in Asuna’s desire to break free from a guild that appears to have become tyrannical. And as I’m sure will be made clear in episode nine, they’ll need each other to survive the blue bull boss that lies in wait for them.
And will they survive next week? Umm…I’m going to guess yes, even if I’m not sure how the events will play themselves out. Not only are the two our protagonists, and not only do are they powerful as individuals, but they also fight well together. Kirito and Asuna complement each other.
And as Kirito starts to finally feel some stirrings for Asuna, who seems to have felt them for him all along, I’m quite reminded of my own counterpart – my wife.
While she and I work well together in lots of arenas, like parenting and communication (with one another and with others), I immediately thought about ministry. Although Rick Warren gets a lot of flack, both within the Christian community and without, I learned much from him in regards to serving. One lesson I learned long ago from The Purpose Drive Life had to do with being focused on ministry. If it is a vital part of our lives, we have to ponder it when we consider who our spouses will be.
When my wife (then just a cute college freshman) and I first met, and even into the early years of our marriage, I felt that ministry interests were incompatible (not to mention our personalities – it’s a good thing I don’t believe in chemistry!). It seems that we had little overlap in what areas we wanted to focus on in church. At first, this wasn’t an issue – young adults, in the great scheme of things, have a WHOLE lot of time on their hands, even if they complain otherwise. But once we had kids, we had to very carefully pick and choose how we would serve at church.
I was reminded of Paul’s words concerning marriage:
I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord’s affairs —how he can please the Lord. But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world—how he can please his wife— and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord’s affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world—how she can please her husband. I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord.
– I Corinthians 7:32-35
If a married man says his heart is 100% devoted to the LORD, he’s either a liar or a horrible husband. Although loving your wife is part of loving God, there’s also some uncommon ground. And I felt this applied to ministry – I couldn’t do what I wanted, because I didn’t have the support of my wife – and the same could be said for her. Yes, we supported each other, but neither would give 100% of ourselves into a ministry for which we didn’t feel a heart.
But as time passed, I realized my wife and I complemented each other well. We couldn’t each do all we wanted, but with each others’ support, we could do what we did chose well. And we’ve even used our strengths to find roles in the other’s ministry.
Like Kirito and Asuna, a husband and wife can have very different ways of approaching things. They may not seem simpatico. But working together, they can still accomplish great things. In fact, together, they could accomplish something they could never have apart.
So perhaps, despite their differences, Kirito and Asuna will develop into a couple that continues to complete each other. I think they will, and maybe together, they’ll accomplish something unimaginable in this game.
A match in MMOG Heaven, if I’ve ever seen one.
I remembered, back at Episode 1, urging you to watch Kirito and Asuna’s interactions carefully…. (=
Absolutely – thanks! I’m looking forward to seeing their relationship continue to develop.
Haha this is the relationship we’ve been waiting for. No more diddling around from Kirito… or Asuna. Honestly the two of them have outshone the rest of the cast by and far and for good reason, we want the focus to be on them as viewers.
They’re both archetypes, but there’s something about putting these two into this setting and having they interact with each other (and grow with another) that makes them compelling. I’m enjoying THEM more than the fantastic setting of the series, which is really saying something!
[Spoilers]
They do end up [snip by the editor] in-game
I hope you don’t mind – I added the asterisks to better hide your spoiler. 😛
Actually, I snipped it out completely. -_-‘
Another satisfying post. : )
On another note, hard to avoid the spoiler when trying to write a comment : (
Thanks! 🙂
And yeah, sorry. Reading that kinda bummed me out, too.
[…] I wonder how to define that word. My wife is my “soulmate,” though she and I are compliments in action rather than the “madly in love” or “we complete each others’ […]