Readings

If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you.

Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. “Pooh?” he whispered.

“Yes, Piglet?”

“Nothing,” said Piglet, taking Pooh’s hand. “I just wanted to be sure of you.”

“We’ll be Friends Forever, won’t we, Pooh?’ asked Piglet.

"Even longer," Pooh answered.

“If ever there is tomorrow when we’re not together… there is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we’re apart… I’ll always be with you.”

Happiness in marriage is not something that just happens.

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 at no time taking the other for granted; the courtship should not end with the honeymoon, it should continue through the years.

It is having a mutual sense of values and common objectives.

It is standing together facing the world.

It is forming a circle of love that gathers the whole family

It is doing things for each other, not in the attitude of duty or sacrifice,

but in the spirit of joy.

It is speaking words of appreciation and demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways.

It is not looking for perfection in each other.

It is cultivating flexibility, patience, understanding and a sense of humour.

It is having the capacity to forgive and forget.

It is giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow old.

It is a common search for the good and the beautiful.

It is establishing a relationship in which the independence is equal, dependence is mutual and the obligation is reciprocal.

It is not only marrying the right partner; it is being the right partner.

It is discovering what marriage can be, at its best.

A soulmate isn’t someone who completes you. No, a soulmate is someone who inspires you to complete yourself.

A soulmate is someone who does not judge you for your flaws. A soulmate is someone who sees your jagged edges, who sees the parts of you that have been weathered by love and by life, who sees the wars that you fight, and who chooses to stand beside you. A soulmate is someone who watches as you confront your scars from the inside; always encouraging you to heal on your own time, in your own way; always encouraging you to keep going.

A soulmate is someone who challenges you to challenge yourself. Someone who sees the potential that courses through your bones, and who lets you know exactly what you are capable of. They help you to open your eyes, to come to terms with the fact that you are powerful beyond measure. They see you in ways that you have never been able to see yourself, and they are not afraid to inspire you until you finally see it too.

See, a soulmate is someone who is not afraid of your growth. They do not feel the need to close you off, to protect you from becoming as big as you were always meant to be. They do not feel inadequate when they see you soar, when they see something new within you spark. A soulmate is someone who will never vilify you for changing, for doing the things you have always held yourself back from doing, because a soulmate knows that you are building yourself into someone you are proud of, and that is so beautiful to them — that is what they have always hoped for you.

So no, a soulmate does not complete you — they inspire you to complete yourself. A soulmate is the person who supports your direction, who motivates and encourages you to stretch, to change, to reinvent yourself until you are happy. A soulmate is someone who loves you with so much conviction, and so much heart, that it is nearly impossible to doubt just how capable you are of becoming exactly who you have always wanted to be.

Falling in love is like owning a dog

First of all, it’s a big responsibility, especially in a city like Melbourne.

So think long and hard before deciding on love.

On the other hand, love gives you a sense of security: when you’re walking down the street late at night and you have a leash on love ‘ain’t no one going to mess with you.

Because crooks and muggers think love is unpredictable. Who knows what love could do in its own defence?

On cold winter nights, love is warm. It lies between you and lives and breathes and makes funny noises.

Love wakes you up all hours of the night with its needs. It needs to be fed so it will grow and stay healthy.

Love doesn’t like being left alone for long. But come home and love is always happy to see you.

It may break a few things accidentally in its passion for life, but you can never be mad at love for long.

Is love good all the time? No! No!

Love can be bad.

Bad, love, bad!

Very bad love.

Love makes messes. Love leaves you little surprises here and there.

Love needs lots of cleaning up after. Sometimes you just want to get love fixed.

Sometimes you want to roll up a piece of newspaper and swat love on the nose, not so much to cause pain, just to let love know don’t you ever do that again!

Sometimes love just wants to go for a nice long walk. Because love loves exercise.

It runs you around the block and leaves you panting. It pulls you in several different directions at once, or winds around and around you until you’re all wound up and can’t move.

But love makes you meet people wherever you go. People who have nothing in common but love stop and talk to each other on the street.

Throw things away and love will bring them back, again, and again, and again.

But most of all, love needs love, lots of it.

And in return, love loves you and never stops.

Congratulations! Today is your day. You’re off to Great Places! You’re off and away! You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the couple who’ll decide where to go.

You’ll look up and down streets. Look ‘em over with care. About some you will say, “We don’t choose to go there.” With your heads full of brains and your shoes full of feet, you’re too smart to go down, any not-so-good street.

And you may not find any you’ll want to go down. In that case, of course, you’ll head straight out of town. It’s opener there in the wide open air, Out there things can happen and frequently do to people as brainy and footsy as you. And when things start to happen, don’t worry. Don’t stew.

Just go right along. You’ll start happening too. OH! THE PLACES YOU’LL GO!

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. 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.

Those that truly love have roots that grow towards each other underground, and, when all the pretty blossoms have fallen from their branches, they find that they are one tree and not two.

They say that sometimes love starts with a spark.

And that might be true,

but if I were to wish you a love,

I wouldn't wish fire for you.

You see, fire is powerful.

It burns bright and then it's gone.

It's beautiful and warm,

but it doesn't last long.

So instead of wishing you a love that burns,

I wish you a love like a river twists and turns.

It changes and it flows,

It is powerful and free.

But it consistently finds its way back to the sea.

And so like the water,

I hope your love is ever growing, ever changing.

I hope your love is powerful and free,

And may you always find eachother,

Like a river finds the sea.

Looks like we made it

Look how far we've come, my baby.

We mighta took the long way

We knew we'd get there someday

They said, "I bet they'll never make it"

But just look at us holding on

We're still together, still going strong

You're still the one I run to

The one that I belong to

You're still the one I want for life

You're still the one that I love

The only one I dream of

You're still the one I kiss goodnight

I'm so glad we made it

Look how far we've come, my baby.

The time has come to stand side by side

The Groom in his glory, his beautiful Bride.

They’ve waited so long for this moment in time

To take their vows and say, “Will you be mine?”

Marriage is precious and to be treasured.

The love that you have can never be measured.

It joins you as one, not just with a ring,

But a future together and what it will bring.

Keep the love alive and make it last.

Remember the good times don’t live in the past.

The bond that you have shows the world that you care,

Not just for yourselves, but for the family you share.

Who knows what the future may hold?

Stay strong together until you grow old.

Be there for each other, keep good memories alive.

With love and respect, you will always survive.

Today is your day to cherish forever,

Never forget what brought you together.

This special time is just for you,

A time to remember when you’ve said “I do.”

They’re not perfect.

You aren’t either,

and the two of you will never be perfect.

But if they can make you laugh at least once,

causes you to think twice,

and if they admit to being human and making mistakes,

hold onto them and give them the most you can.

They aren’t going to quote poetry,

They’re not thinking about you every moment,

but they will give you a part of them that they know you could break.

Don’t hurt them, don’t change them,

and don’t expect for more than they can give.

Don’t analyze.

Smile when they make you happy,

yell when they make you mad,

and miss them when they’re not there.

Love hard when there is love to be had.

Because perfect people don’t exist,

but there’s always one person that is perfect for you.

This is a special place, a place where people have brought beautiful living plants, to establish them, to nurture and care for them, that they may forever surround us with the beauty we now see. And into this place where we stand, you have brought something beautiful — the relationship that is becoming your marriage. Here you are declaring it and pledging it, promising to establish and nurture it.

We are aware of the special beauty between the two of you, just as we are aware of the special beauty of this place. We are with you now in this appropriate place to celebrate your relationship as it is and as it is yet to be, and in doing so, we think about how your life together will have the same seasons and needs as this garden.

There will be growth like Spring and loss like Autumn; there will be joy like the Summer and rest in the Winter. All the seasons will be yours, but remember, too, that gardens are not just happenings. The more wonderful the garden, the more skilled the gardener.

You will have to care deeply for the life that is yours together, and nurture it. You will have to appreciate your differences and cultivate them. You will have to take care of yourself, if for no other reason than out of love for the other. And you will need the support of family and friends to reach full growth.

As you caringly chose this place to declare your marriage, so remember its lessons for your life together through the seasons that are yours to share. And may those seasons bring you and yours joy and happiness.

I saw two clouds at morning,

Tinged by the rising sun,

And in the dawn they floated on,

And mingled into one;

I thought that morning cloud was blest,

It moved so sweetly to the west.

I saw two Summer currents

Flow smoothly to their meeting,

And join their course, with silent force,

In peace each other greeting;

Calm was their course through banks of green,

While dimpling eddies played between.

Such be your gentle motion,

Till life’s last pulse shall beat;

Like summer’s beam, and summer’s stream,

Float on, in joy, to meet

A calmer sea, where storms shall cease,

A purer sky, where all is peace.

Wherever we go

Whatever we do

Whenever there’s me

I hope that there’s you.

Now Money is Funny, it can make people odd.

You forget to be happy, and you live for your job

And fashion, is a passion, beset with a flaw

You can dress to excess, but you’ll always need more

And a muscle toned body, may sound like a dream

But no body is better, than chocolate ice cream

What I’m trying to say, is that happiness grows

Not through your wages, or body or clothes

But in laughter and love, and in sharing your life.

In the arms of another as husband and wife.

So when you find someone who’s weird just like you

Who laughs when you’re stupid and who makes you laugh too.

When you sit on the sofa, not hiding your flaws.

As imperfectly perfect, as the hand that holds yours.

When the fortune of kings, or purse of a beggar.

Won’t change how it feels, just being together.

When a cuddle and cuppa is all that you need….

Well then…

you’ve found something quite special indeed.

Wherever we go

Whatever we do

Whenever there’s me

I hope that there’s you.

Love is patient, love is kind.

It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking

it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perserveres.

Love never fails.

The greatest of these; faith, hope and love, is love.

As you are the Moon of his life, he shall be your Sun and Stars. Your love shall be as ever present as those two celestial bodies... even though they are sometimes hidden from one another's sight.

Your love will be the guiding force that charts the course of your tomorrows, holds your world together in difficult times, and will make life itself shine bolder and brighter than we human beings have a right to dream of.

As the mist leaves no scar

On the dark green hill

So my body leaves no scar

On you and never will

Through windows in the dark

The children come, the children go

Like arrows with no targets

Like shackles made of snow

True love leaves no traces

If you and I are one

It’s lost in our embraces

Like stars against the sun

As a falling leaf may rest

A moment on the air

So your head upon my breast

So my hand upon your hair

And many nights endure

Without a moon or star

So we will endure

When one is gone and far

True love leaves no traces

If you and I are one

It’s lost in our embraces

Like stars against the sun

Be it Sunday or Monday

Evening or morning, midnight, midday

In hell or paradise

Loves resemble to loves

It was yesterday that I told you:

We will sleep side by side

It was yesterday and it is now tomorrow

You are the only path left for me

I've placed my heart between your hands

With yours how it beats the amble

The whole human time it has left

We will sleep side by side

My love, what has been, will be

The sky is over us like a bedsheet

I've enclosed my arms around you

And I love you so much that I tremble

For as long as you will want

We will sleep side by side

His hello was the end of her endings

Her laugh was their first step down the aisle

His hand would be hers to hold forever

His forever was as simple as her smile

He said she was what was missing

She said instantly she knew

She was a question to be answered

And his answer was 'I do.'

When he looked into her eyes, he learned the most important part of the language that all the world spoke — the language that everyone on Earth was capable of understanding in their heart.

It was love.

Something older than humanity, more ancient than the desert.

What the boy felt at that moment was that he was in the presence of the only woman in his life, and that, with no need for words, she recognized the same thing.

Because when you know the language, it’s easy to understand that someone in the world awaits you, whether it’s in the middle of the desert or in some great city. And when two such people encounter each other, the past and the future become unimportant. There is only that moment, and the incredible certainty that everything under the sun has been written by one hand only.

It is the hand that evokes love, and creates a twin soul for every person in the world. Without such love, one’s dreams would have no meaning.”

There were once two couples, and each decided to build a house.

The first couple were foolish, and chose to build on sandy soil where it was easy to access and easy to dig the foundations. In a few short weeks they were almost finished.

The second couple were wise, and chose to build his house on a rocky hill, where it was very hard to access and to dig the foundation. They spent many months building this house.

As time passed a huge storm broke upon the houses. After much rain, a flood swept through the valley and the house that was built on the sand was swept away. But the second house that was built on the rocky hill was safe. No matter how hard it rained or how fierce the floods were, the house remained solid and immovable.

Let's ask ourselves the question. What's the better foundation for a strong marriage? A marriage should be based on solid foundations of love, trust and mutual respect.

And if you are going to build on sand, make sure you engage the services of a decent lawyer, because property litigation is an absolute minefield!*

*Adapt this to suit you!