Marriage by Kahlil Gibran

Love one another, but make not a bond of love:  Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.  Fill each other’s cup but drink not from one cup.  Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.  Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone.  Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.  Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping.  For only the hand of life can contain your hearts.   And stand together yet not too near togther:  For the pillars of the temple stand apart, and the Oak tree and the Cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.

This is one of my favorite readings, which every couple should read and try their best to respect each other, and follow the “golden rule”…treating other people the way they would like to be treated!

Read this with compassion, and make a difference in the life of someone you love today!  Life is too short!

Apache Marriage Blessing – anon

Now you will feel no rain, for each of you will be the shelter for each other.  Now you will feel no cold, for each of you will be the warmth for the other.  Now you are two persons, but there is only one life before.  Go now to your dwelling place to enter into the days of your life together.  And may your days be good and long upon the earth.

(the wording above is normally the “shortened” version, the full verse is continued below)

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 will 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.