Selected Readings

• Love One Another

  Love one another with all your hearts.
  Give more than you take.
  Don't ever take your relationship for granted.
  Have heart to heart talks and really communicate.
  Be trusting, playful, intimate and kind.
  Appreciate all the little, special things.
  Recognise that time spent together is a treasure.
  Make the most of what each day brings.
  Know that nothing is sweeter than the warmth of one hand within another.
  Walk together in the direction you want to go.
  Be supportive and sharing and open to change.
  Always continue to grow.
  Cherish the blessing which so few truly find.
  Have dreams to reach out for through the years.
  Share one another's smiles through the good times.
  Be everything to one another through the tears.
  What your time together lacks in quantity, make up for with quality.
  Call to say "I love You" in the middle of the day.
  Keep your sense of humour and hold on to your hopes.
  Don't let work or worries get in the way.
  Make love a sanctuary and a celebration.
  Make each moment more precious and each season more glad.
  Realise how lucky you are to be two ... together.
  And make the best memories any two people ever had.
  

• Every Two Unique

  "No human relationship gives one possession of another - every two persons are absolutely different. In friendship or in love, the two side by side raise hands together, to find what one cannot reach alone.

  Learn to see the greatness and the loveliness in one another - and to tell one another of it when you see it. If you accept the sunshine and warmth, you must also accept the thunder and the lightning.

  Among intelligent people the surest basis for marriage is friendship - the sharing of real interests - the ability to work out ideas together and understand each other's thoughts and dreams."

• Friendship

  Judy Bielicki

  It is often said that it is love that makes the world go round.

  However, without doubt,
  it is friendship that keeps our spinning existence on an even keel.

  True friendship provides so many of the essentials for a happy life -
  it is the strong foundation on which to build an enduring relationship,
  it is the mortar which bonds us together in harmony,
  and it is the calm, warm protection we sometimes need when the world outside seems cold and chaotic.

  True friendship holds a mirror to our foibles and failings,
  without destroying our sense of worthiness.

  True friendship nurtures our hopes, supports us in our disappointments,
  and encourages us to grow to our best potential.

  Name and Name come together as friends.

  Today, they pledge to each other not only their love,
  but also the strength, warmth and, most importantly,
  the fun of true friendship.

• Through the Years

  Through the years we have learned
  A lot about each other,
  And we have grown together.
  

  We have learned about forgiveness;
  It takes two understanding people
  To accept one another's faults
  And still find it in their hearts
  To forgive each other
  And forget old arguments
  

  We have learned about friendship;
  Friends stick together,
  They're always truthful to each other,
  And they always comfort one another
  In times of turmoil.
  

  Most of all, we have learned about love.
  It is something that takes time,
  And after all our time together,
  Our love has never been stronger.
  

• Taking Into Your Care

  You are now taking into your care and keeping the happiness of the one person in all the world whom you love best.

  You are adding to your life not only the affection of each other, but also the companionship and blessing of a deep trust as well.

  You are agreeing to share strength, responsibilities and to share love.

• Blessing for a Marriage

  James Dillet Freeman

  May your marriage bring you all the exquisite excitements a marriage should bring,
  and may life grant you also patience, tolerance and understanding.

  May you always need one another -
  not so much to fill your emptiness as to help you know your fullness.

  A mountain needs a valley to be complete;
  the valley does not make the mountain less, but more;
  and the valley is more a valley because it has a mountain towering over it.
  So let it be with you and you.

  May you need one another, but not out of weakness.
  May you want one another, but not out of lack.
  May you entice one another, but not compel one another.
  May you embrace one another, but not encircle one another.
  May you succeed in all important ways with one another, and not fail in the little graces.
  May you look for things to praise, often say, "I love You!", and take no notice of small faults.
  

  May you enter into the mystery
  which is the awareness of one another's presence
  - no more physical than spiritual,
  warm and near when you are side by side,
  and warm and near when you are in separate rooms or even distant cities.

  May you have happiness, and may you find it making one another happy.

  May you have love, and may you find it loving one another.

• Treat Yourselves With Respect

  Treat yourselves and each other with respect,
  and remind yourselves often of what brought you together.

  Give the highest priority to the tenderness,
  gentleness and kindness that your connection deserves.

  When frustration, difficulty and fear assail your relationship -
  as they threaten all relationships at one time or another -
  remember to focus on what is right between you,
  not only the part which seems wrong.

  In this way, you can ride out the storms
  when clouds hide the face of the sun in your lives -
  remembering that even if you lose sight of it for a moment,
  the sun is still there.

  And if each of you takes responsibility for the quality of your life together,
  it will be marked by abundance and delight.

• Blessing of the Apaches

  Now you will feel no rain,
  for each of you will be shelter for the other.

  Now you will feel no cold,
  for each of you will be warmth to the other.

  Now there will be no loneliness,
  for each of you will be companion to the other.

  Now you are two persons,
  but there is only one life before you.

  May beauty surround you both in the journey ahead
  and through all the years.

  May happiness be your companion
  and your days together be good and long upon the earth.