The Marriage Box poem

My nephew is getting married this weekend. A traditional gift that we give to loved ones is a box with this poem inside of it. As I was typing it out, it reminded me that I should share it, in case someone had never heard of it.

Enjoy.

~B

The Marriage Box

Most people get married believing a myth;
that marriage is a beautiful box
full of all the things
they have longed for;
companionship, romance, sexual fulfillment,
intimacy, friendship, laughter, financial security.

The truth is that marriage,
at the start, is an empty box.
You must put some things into it
before you can take anything out of it.

There is no love in marriage;
love is in people,
and people put it into their marriage.
There is no romance in marriage;
people have to put it into their relationship.

A couple must discern what things work
to improve their relationship and form
the habits of communicating,
giving, sacrificing, sharing, loving, touching,
serving and praising.

In other words,
keeping the box full.
If you take out more that you put in,
the box will be empty!

~author unknown~