For some, marriage is our greatest accomplishment:<\/strong><\/p>\n I am nothing special, of this I am sure. I am a common man with common thoughts and I\u2019ve led a common life. There are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will soon be forgotten, but I\u2019ve loved another with all my heart and soul, and to me, this has always been enough.<\/em> My most brilliant achievement was my ability to be able to persuade my wife to marry me.<\/em> Being married develops our character and teaches us things we couldn’t have learned on our own:<\/strong><\/p>\n Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.<\/em> A great marriage is not when the perfect couple comes together. It is when an imperfect couple learns to enjoy their differences.<\/em> Placing blame in marriage is like saying, \u201cYour side of the boat is sinking.\u201d<\/em> Marriage gives us relief from the aching loneliness we would feel without a special someone:<\/strong><\/p>\n We need a witness to our lives. There\u2019s a billion people on the planet\u2026 I mean, what does any one life really mean? But in a marriage, you\u2019re promising to care about everything. The good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things\u2026 all of it, all of the time, every day. You\u2019re saying, \u201cYour life will not go unnoticed because I will notice it. Your life will not go unwitnessed because I will be your witness.<\/em> But having a husband doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re never alone:<\/strong><\/p>\n Let there be spaces in your togetherness, And let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another but make not a bond of love: Let it be rather a moving sea between the shores of your souls.<\/em> When it\u2019s going well, there\u2019s nothing better than being married:<\/strong><\/p>\n There is no more lovely, friendly, and charming relationship, communion or company than a good marriage.<\/em> Come, let\u2019s be a comfortable couple and take care of each other! How glad we shall be, that we have somebody we are fond of always, to talk to and sit with.<\/em> Marriage can make us into our best selves:<\/strong><\/p>\n I love you not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you. I love you not only for what you have made of yourself, but for what you are making of me.<\/em> It\u2019s filled with grace for our shortcomings:<\/strong><\/p>\n Love me when I least deserve it, because that\u2019s when I really need it.<\/em> You don\u2019t love someone because they\u2019re perfect; you love them in spite of the fact that they\u2019re not.<\/em> Marriage is an ongoing lesson in surrender<\/a>:<\/strong><\/p>\n Something amazing happens when we surrender and just love. We melt into another world, a realm of power already within us. The world changes when we change. The world softens when we soften. The world loves us when we choose to love the world.<\/em> There is no remedy for love but to love more.<\/em> It\u2019s also a prize that\u2019s well worth persevering for:<\/strong><\/p>\n New love is the brightest, and long love is the greatest, but revived love is the tenderest thing known on earth.<\/em> All of which is to say that to love and be loved is a journey worth taking, sticking with and being grateful for.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re feeling inspired, maybe now is the time to take a small step toward reviving or celebrating the love in your relationship.<\/p>\n Maybe you want to make a gratitude list for your man or for the life you\u2019ve built together.<\/p>\n It could be that you find things you appreciate, things that make you happy, and let him know how glad you are about those things that he does or is for you.<\/p>\n It might be that you\u2019re vulnerable and let him know that you miss him<\/a>–with no expectations.<\/p>\n What action will you take to infuse your relationship with inspiration and light today, right now, while you\u2019re feeling the love?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\n\u2013 Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\u2013 Winston Churchill<\/p>\n
\n\u2013 Lao Tzu<\/p>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lauradoyle.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Banner-Horizontal.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n\u2013 Dave Meurer<\/p>\n
\n\u2013 Hank Smith<\/p>\n
\n\u2013 The movie Shall We Dance?<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\u2013 Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\u2013 Martin Luther<\/p>\n
\n\u2013 Charles Dickens<\/p>\n
\n\u2013 Roy Croft<\/p>\n
\n\u2013 Swedish proverb<\/p>\n
\n\u2013 Jodi Picoult<\/p>\n
\n\u2013 Marianne Williamson<\/p>\n
\n\u2013 Henry David Thoreau<\/p>\n
\n\u2014Thomas Hardy<\/p>\n