The Art of a Good Marriage
The Most Wonderful Of All Things In Life
What is Love
Marriage is a Commitment to Life
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin
Guide for a Loving Home
From Mark Twain
Marriage
Extract from ‘Portrait of a Marriage’ (Nigel Nicolson)
From Sir Philip Sidney
Three Short Readings (Unknown Writers)
How to Stay Together One More Day!
From Deanne Laura Gilbert
Love as we know It
The Mathematics of Love
Symptoms (Sophie Hannah)
Marriage
When You Met
A Love Poem (Dorothy Court)
Marriage is
I love you because
Where there is Love (Helen Steiner Rice)
A Wedding Message (Amanda Bradley)
Love
Celtic Blessing
A Good marriage must be created.
In marriage the little things are the big things….
It is never being too old to hold hands.,
It is remembering to say “I love you” at least once a day.
It is never going to sleep angry.
It is having a mutual sense of values and common objectives.
It is standing together and facing the world.
It is forming a circle of love that gathers in the whole family.
It is speaking words of appreciation and demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways.
It is having the capacity to forgive and forget.
It is giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow.
It is a common search for the good and the beautiful.
It is not only marrying the right person, it is being the right partner.
The most wonderful of all things in life is the discovery of another human being with whom one’s relationship has a growing depth, beauty and joy as the years increase. This inner progressiveness of love between two human beings is a most marvellous thing; it cannot be found by looking for it or by passionately wishing for it. It is a sort of divine accident, and the most wonderful of all things in life.
Sooner or later we begin to understand that love is more than verse on valentines and romance in the movies. We begin to know that love is here and now, real and true, the most important thing in our lives. For love is the creator of our favourite memories and the foundation of our fondest dreams. Love is a
promise that is always kept, a fortune that can never be spent, a seed that can flourish in even the most unlikely of places. And this radiance that never fades,
this mysterious and magical joy, is the greatest treasure of all – one known only by those who love.
Marriage is a commitment to life, the best that two people can find and bring out in each other. It offers opportunities for sharing and growth that no other
relationship can equal. It is a physical and an emotional joining that is promised for a lifetime. Within the circle of its love, marriage encompasses all of life’s most important relationships. A wife and a husband are each other’s best friend, confidant, lover, teacher, listener and critic. And there may come times when one partner is heartbroken or ailing and the love of the other may resemble the tender caring of a parent for a child.
Marriage deepens and enriches every facet of life. Happiness is fuller, memories are fresher, commitment is stronger, even anger is felt more strongly, and passes away more quickly. Marriage understands and forgives the mistakes life is unable to avoid. It encourages and nurtures new life, new experiences and new ways of expressing a love that is deeper than life.
When two people pledge their love and care for each other in marriage they create a spirit unique unto themselves which binds them closer than any spoken
or written words. Marriage is a promise, a potential made in the hearts of two people who love each other and takes a lifetime to fulfil.
Love is a temporary madness; it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides.
And when it subsides, you have to make a decision.
You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is.
Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion, it is not the desire to mate every second minute of
the day, it is not lying awake at night imagining that he is kissing every cranny of your body. No, don’t blush, I am telling you some truths. That is just being “in love”, which any fool can do. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident.
May we treat one another with respect, honesty and care. May we share the little discoveries and changes each day brings. May we try always to be sensitive to one another’s joys, sorrows, needs and changing moods, and realise that being a loving family means sometimes not understanding everyone all the time, but being there to love and help them just the same.
A marriage…… Makes of two fractional lives a whole; it gives two purposeless lives a work, and doubles the strength of each to perform it; it gives to two
questioning natures a reason for living, and something to live for; it will give a new gladness to the sunshine, a new fragrance to the flowers, a new beauty to the earth, and a new mystery to life.
Marriage is a dynamic process of discovery.
Marriage is a journey not an arrival.
In marriage, being the right person is as important as finding the right person.
Marriage is starting to love, over and over again.
Marriage is a life’s work.
Marriage is an art… and like any creative process, it requires active thought and effort.
In marriage there is a need to learn how to share on many different levels.
In marriage there is a need to practise talking from the heart, and understanding attitudes as well as words.
Giving generously and receiving graciously are talents that are available to anyone.
But all these skills need to be developed, if the marriage picture that we paint is to be anything approaching the masterpiece intended.
Marriage was they thought, only tolerable for people of strong character and independent minds if it were regarded as a lifetime association between intimate friends. And as a happy marriage is ‘the greatest of human benefits’, husband and wife must strive hard for its success. Each must be subtle enough to mould their characters and behaviour to fit the other’s, facet to facet, convex to concave. The husband must develop the feminine side of his nature, the wife her
masculine side. He must cultivate the qualities of sympathy and intuition; she those of detachment, reason and decision. He must respond to tears; she must not miss trains….
My true love hath my heart, and I have his,
By just exchange one for another given.
I hold his dear, and mine he cannot miss:
There never was a better bargain driven.
My true love hath my heart and I have his.
His heart in me, keeps him and me in one,
My heart in him, his thoughts and senses guides:
He loves my heart, for once it was his own:
I cherish his, because in me it bides.
My true love hath my heart and I have his.
1. Throughout your marriage always remember that the spectrum of love has nine ingredients: Patience, Kindness, Generosity, Humility, Courtesy, Unselfishness, Good Temper, Guilelessness and Sincerity. Thus will your love today survive throughout your married life.
2. On your wedding day and every day thereafter May your home be filled with happiness and your hearts with love and laughter And may each year together find you more and more in love and bring you all the happiness you’re so deserving of. May the joy of true companionship be yours to share through life,
and may you treasure always the day you became husband and wife.
3. Now you will feel no rain, for each of you will be a shelter for the other. Now you will feel no cold, for each of you will be warmth to the other. Now there is
no more loneliness. Now you are two persons, but there is only one life before you. Go now to your dwelling to enter into the days of your life together. And may your days be good and long upon the earth.
Laugh at yourself and at each other. Practice unselfishness. Show your love. Talk to not at, each other. Respond lovingly to his or her request. Greet and leave each other with kind words. Criticise the action, not the person. Hold hands. Resolve the day’s differences before bedtime. Admit your failings and ask for forgiveness. Don’t fight dirty. Enjoy the present and welcome the future. Make love, not waves.
‘I Love You’ means that I accept you for the person that you are, and that I don’t wish to change you into someone else. It means that I do not expect perfection from you, just as you don’t expect it from me.
‘I Love You’ means that I will love you and stand by you even through the worst of times. It means loving you when you are in a bad mood or too tired to do the things I want to do. It means loving you when you are down, not just when you’re fun to be with.
‘I Love You’ means that I know your deepest secrets and do not judge you for them, asking in return only that you do not judge me for mine. It means that I
care enough not to let you go. It means thinking of you, dreaming of you, wanting and needing you constantly, and hoping you feel the same way for me.
‘I Love You’ means forever.
Love, it can be said, has many guises.
It will shine in a Mother’s smile,
And be hidden in a Father’s warm embrace –
Or felt in a child’s velvet kisses.
Love may even hide in sibling squabbles.
Love is presented by Lovers in little unexpected gifts.
It is pronounced to the world by hand-holding elderly couples.
And found in listening to a friend’s tears in the wee small hours.
Love is enduring and unjudging.
It is safety and sanctuary from a world of vexation.
Love, when nurtured, grows and blossoms like honeysuckle –
Spreading and encompassing all within its reach.
Love has an incalculable value, far beyond worldly currency,
For it cannot be bought or sold.
That Love, which isn’t given freely, is not Love at all.
Love joins together, but does not create constraints or shackle –
Rather it is a safe mooring, from which each may journey and return,
Assured of a warm homecoming.
Now may each of you be more acutely aware
Of that Love which your heart gives and receives
For such treasure should be highly prized.
From today may your joys be added,
Your cares subtracted,
Your worries divided
And your love multiplied!
There is no greater happiness than that of sharing life,
Sharing all its joys and cares as a loving man and wife.
And since you’ve found that happiness, what more is there to say,
Except to hope your joys will grow still sweeter day by day.
Although you have given me a stomach upset,
Weak knees, a lurching heart, a fuzzy brain,
A high-pitched laugh, a monumental phone bill,
A feeling of unworthiness, sharp pain
When you are somewhere else, a guilty conscience,
A longing, and a dread of what’s in store,
A pulse rate for the ‘Guinness Book of Records’ –
Life is now better that it was before.
Although you have given me a raging temper,
Insomnia, a rising sense of panic,
A hopeless challenge, bouts of introspection,
Raw, bitten nails, a voice that’s strangely manic,
A selfish streak, a fear of isolation,
A silly smile, lips that are chapped and sore,
A running joke, a risk, an inspiration –
Life is now better that it was before.
Although you have given me premonition,
Chattering teeth, a goal, a lot to lose,
A granted wish, mixed motives, superstitions,
Hang-ups and headaches, fear of awful news,
A bubble in my throat, a dare to swallow,
A crack of light under a closing door,
The crude, fantastic prospect of forever –
Life is now better than it was before.
A Marriage is a promise that two hearts gladly make.
A promise to be tender, to help, to give and take.
A marriage is a promise to be kind and understanding.
To be thoughtful and considerate, fair and undemanding.
A marriage is a promise to share one life together….
A love filled promise meant to be kept lovingly forever.
When you met you were not planning to fall in love; you were not planning to feel so attracted to someone. But when you met you awakened feelings inside yourselves that you had forgotten existed.
On the day you met, you did not realise how much your love would grow; that the attraction which first brought you together would reach beyond passion, to the comfort of knowing that you each had someone very special. Someone who would be not only a lover, but also a close friend.
When you met you had no idea where your relationship would lead you, or how beautiful you would make each other’s world; but today you know that without a doubt the luckiest day of your lives was the day that you met.
Love. What is it?
You cannot hold it, neither see it.
But it is all around us.
It is the essence of our lives.
Sooner or later you are bound to meet it.
Some people go out to greet it.
It is there; it is here;
it is gone; it is near.
It is something we cannot afford to miss.
This once in a while, this bliss.
This thing called love.
Learning to give not always to take,
Learning to forgive each little mistake,
Learning to love whatever the cost,
Always remember alone you’d be lost.
Trying so hard your partner to please,
Trying to save whilst paying the fees,
Trying to smile when things turn out wrong,
Always remember to curb your tongue.
Never think of only yourself,
Never to say you wish you had wealth.
Never let you temper get hot,
Always be thankful for what you have got.
If you remember all of these things,
You will discover the joys that it brings,
Then you’ll have what so many folk miss,
Always you’ll have a marriage of bliss.
I love you because you’re my future,
My present and part of my past
My world has been turning so quickly
And time just keeps moving so fast.
I love you because you have something
no ordinary person can give
A warmth that I’ll cling to forever –
Hold on to so long as I live
I love you because your devotion
Is tender and wonderfully rare
Could anyone ever imagine?
The magic moments we share?
I love you because you are truthful,
Your eyes hold the key to my heart
Tell me you share my commitment,
And say we shall not be apart.
I love you because you are wonderful,
You give me all that I need
A hug when I seek reassurance,
A smile if we have disagreed.
I love you because….. I just love you,
For too many reasons to say
And I’ll always be right here beside you,
A breath and a heartbeat away.
Where there is love the heart is light.
Where there is love the day is bright.
Where there is love there is a song
To help when things are going wrong.
Where there is love there is a smile
To make all things seem more worthwhile.
Where there is love there’s quiet peace,
A tranquil place where turmoil’s cease –
Love changes darkness into light
And makes the heart take “wingless flight”.
To love is to share life together.
To build special plans just for two.
To work side by side,
And then smile with pride
As, one by one, dreams all come true.
To love is to help and encourage
With smiles and sincere words of praise.
To take time to share.
To listen and care
In tender, affectionate ways.
To love is to have someone special
On whom you can always depend
To be there through the years,
Sharing laughter and tears
As a partner, a lover, a friend.
To love is to make special memories
Of moments you love to recall.
Of all the good things
That married life brings,
Love is the greatest of all.
Love puts the music in laughter
The beauty in song
The warmth in a shoulder
The gentle in strong
Love puts the magic in memories
The sunshine in skies
The goodness in giving
The starlight in eyes
Love puts the fun in together
The sad in apart
The hope in tomorrow
The joy in the heart.
Yes, I’ll marry you, my dear, and here’s the reason why;
So I can push you out of bed when the baby starts to cry,
And if we hear a knocking and it’s creepy and it’s late,
I hand you the torch to see, and you investigate.
Yes I’ll marry you, my dear, you may not apprehend it,
But when the tumble-drier goes it’s you that has to mend it.
You have to face the neighbour should our Labrador attack him,
And if a drunkard fondles me it’s you that has to whack him.
Yes I’ll marry you, you’re virile and you’re lean,
My house is like a pigsty you can help to keep it clean.
That sexy little dinner which you served by candlelight,
As I do chipolatas, you can cook it every night!
It’s you who work the drill and put up curtain track,
And when I’ve got PMT it’s you who gets the flak,
I do see great advantages, but none of them for you,
And so before you see the light, I do, I do, I do !
May peace guard
The door of your house
The door of your heart
May the road rise to meet you,
And the sun stand at your shoulder
May the wind be always at your back
And the rains fall softly upon your fields
May life itself befriend you
Each day, each night
Each step of your journey.
May peace be with you
And with your children,
From the day that we have here today
To the day of the end of our lives,
Until the day of the end of your lives.