COMMUNICATION
As couples we talk things over. We talk about, around, and trhough all the stuff of our life together. Sometimes we feel that we will never get tot he end of all our words. We wonder if the other person will ever get it. Will ever understand our thoughts in the way we try to express them. But as we continue to talk to each other, welearn that persistence and patience can bring us to a wonderful moment of aha-and finally, we know we've reached an understanding. Oh Joy! Can anything be better? Our eyes meet. They light up with that special light and we know we will always remember this moment, expecially when we come to another passage-another time when we need to talk things out again.
BUILDING GROUNDS
When Jesus Christ laid down his life, he gave us the perfect example of what love is all about. Couplewo look to him as an example, gorw into an understanding of what it means to prefer one another in love. Having a fifty-fifty relationship, putting the other person first, or going the extra mile, are nice phrases to use when talking about relationships. But when it comes to putting these good intentions into practice, e find out what a strong hold our own selfish interests have on our hearts and minds. We can only give God's kind of unconditional and unselfish love as he give us his empowering strength. The good new is that we can help as often as we like. Even if it seems like we need it several times a day! Just remember, God's miracles can happen in everyday life. They can happin in a kitchen as quickly as they can in a cathedral. he is everpresent to help us and he alone has the ability to smoth out the wrinkles and remove the spots that stain our relationships.
INTEGRITY
Integrity in a relationship is that gut-level, what-you-see-is-what-you-get honesty that builds trust between two people. There is integrity, there are no hidden agendas, no skeletons in the closet, no hiding from true emotins, no fear of confrontation. Instead there is the ability to love unselfishly because love springs from pure hearts. In the place of fear there is confidence that the loved one will always do good and never evil. In place of hiding emotions behind words there is the ability to confront-to put it all out on the table and work through any crisis because each has an abiding faith in each other. In a relationship, there is no greater betrayal than the betrayal of integrity. Integrity is the groundwork, the core, the foundation upon which the rest of the relationship struction is built. We must guard our hearts so that we never once lose our integrity as individuals or as a couple.
INTEGRITY
Integrity is not something you are born with, but something you must earn. And keep. All it takes is one wrong move for your reputation to be damaged. Most of us really do know the difference between right and wrong, but it's all too easy to see the good that might come from an unethicalchoice. Once you begin to rationalize a particular decision that that has ethical implications, you need to stop everthying and ask youself, " Am I trying to talk myself into something I know is wrong?" No one is free of all regrets. You have made some ethicalerrors in the past and feel pretty small. Maybe you've been heading in the wrong direction, but in your heart you really want to become a person of character and integrity. You can do it! Commit this day's decisions and activites in God and let Him guide you to higher standard of honesty.
I LOVE YOU
It is a huge step in any relationship when we realize we are in love. Three words- "I love you" - takes us across the threshold of our lives as separate souls into the realm of being a couple. After saying these words, all our other words begin to change. It becomes "us" instead of "I" and "we" instead of 'me" in all our thoughts and plans. But it's not enough to remember that we once said them for the first time. No, we must go on finding reasonsto say "I love you" again and again. Then we find outher words that mean our love is still growing and that we haven't forgotten. And sometimes we find other ways to communicate love wouthout words and sometimes without even realizing we are speaking them more than a sonnet could by our actions.
OPENNESS
Love is the greatest gift and the greatest risk. To completely open with the one whose opinion matters most, requires a deep trust. It's difficult balance to achieve a relationship, this standingon the precipice of understanding and rejection. That the risk is worth the result in no way makes it eeasier to be transparent wit one another. God knows how we feel. He risked his own Son to reach out and let the lorld of fallen people into his heart.
I LOVE YOU
Every man and every woman is different and has different ways of giving and receiving love. ... For some people touch is the primary language of love. their partner can say "I love you" twenty times a day...but without an embrace or a kiss or a squeeze they won't feel loved. Other people need to hear verbal expressions of love. They need to hear in concrete terms why their spouse loves them....Service is what makes some people feel most loved. they respond best to affection that is revealed in practical tearms...Gifts make other people feel loved-not because of the cost involved, but because of the personal attention and thought that goes into them...Spending time together makes other people feel loved. They don't care particularly wht they and their partner do, as long as they are together.
I FORGIVE YOU
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
When someone has wronged us and said "I'm Sorry" we want to "forgive and forget"-but it's just not always that simple. real forgiveness involves more than stuffing down our hurt feelings and trying to forget. When we stuff a hurt feeling it is just under the surface, ready to resurrect again. Jeasus came to set us free, to heal our sorrows so that we can tryly forgive. Then instead of merely forgetting, we understand.
The most humble of human beings, even when he thinks he can no longer love, retains within his soul and power of love. We are not the ones who invented love. Love follows it's own order, its own rules. God himself is love...If love is your desire, don't flee beyond love's reach.
COMMUNICATION
Communication is the way one personopens up to make himself known to another person. It's how a person shares his or her feelings. Today's adult, however, is so afraid of feeling tht he or she stays busy and avoids any in-depth involvement. The avoidance includes in-depth communication with a loved one. Hence, these individuals find themselves tean years into a relationship and still very lonely. They discover that their loneliness has nothing to do with their proximity to another person. They may sleep next to their lovedone and still be very lonely. The loneliness they are experiencing comes from their lack of in-depth, ongoing communication. The kind of communication that means they are willing to open the dorrto their heart and risk vulnerability. The primary reason for communication is not to share facts. Fact-sharing is simply the most basic form of communication. Communication at it's best is defined as timespend opening the doors to one another's innermost self. Let me emphasize that by restating it" Communication is a long-term process by which two people talk in such a way as to open themselves up to one another and share who they really are.
I'M SORRY
Use anger and conflict in a creative way to build your relationship. Love and anger can both be used to build your marriage, but you must process your anger in an appropriate way and develop a proper balance that allows you to express your concerns in the contest of a loving relationship. A healthy marriage is a safe place to resolve honest conflict and process anger. The reason this challenge is so critical to long-term relationships is that in most conflict situations, it isn't the facts that is the real problem, it's the strong negative (or even angry) feelings we harbor. once those feelings are delt with, it's simple to move on and work to resloving the conflict.
Thoughts created by Kokomo. Please do not copy without permission, Thank you.