In anticipation of Valentine’s Day I thought I would share some of my thoughts on the topics of love and marriage and what I think makes a successful and loving marriage.
As an unmarried person, I think the most important thing before entering marriage is not only to be certain of the love you feel for the other person but also certain of your own strengths and weaknesses in order to know your character and self and how you can complement your future partner as well as what you need to work on together.
Loyalty is everything in a stable and chaste relationship, demonstrating your commitment to your partner before and after marriage.
One of my favorite quotations on love and marriage comes from Khalil Gibran’s book The Prophet which beautifully says ‘You were born together and together you shall be forevermore…but 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 rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls…’.
Meaning that although you are united by love and bonded by marriage do not let it become an all consuming force which wraps you together too tightly for ‘even as the strings of a lute are alone…they quiver with the same music.’
To conclude I believe that a strong marriage and love comes from loyalty, knowing oneself in order to recognize our own faults and being able to retain your own identity with confidence so that your focal point in life is not your relationship.
shirinisms 