A small segment from a book that i'm currently reading. Its not exactly relevant to most of us now, but it can serve as a reminder to all of us in time to come i think.

The chapter i was reading today is on the topic of marriage and here, the author has some advice to dish out.

To the girls.

I have levelled with the girls - from Anchorage to Amarillo.
I tell them that all marriages are happy.
Its the living together afterwards that's tough.
I tell them that a good marriage is not a gift.
Its an achievement.
That marriage is not for kids; it takes maturity and guts.
Its separates the men from the boys and the women from the girls.
I tell them that marriage is tested daily by the ability to compromise.
Its survival depends on being smart enough to know what's worth fighting about.
Or making an issue of, or even mentioning it.
Marriage is giving - and more importantly, its forgiving.
And it is almost always the wife who must do these things.
Then, as if these were not enough, she must be willing to forget what she forgave.
Often, that is the hardest part.
Oh, I levelled all right.
If they don't get my message, Buster,
Its because they don't want to get it.
Rose-colored glasses are never made in bifocals.
Because no one wants to read the small prints in dreams.

Now, before any of the guys read this and start going "See girls? You must give in to us!" and start being MCP and all, please. Read this carefully, examine yourself and see if you measure up to it.

To the guys.

Do you know you have asked for the costliest thing
Ever made by the Hand above?
A woman's heart, and a woman's life -
And a woman's wonderful love.

Do you know you have asked for this priceless thing
As a child might ask for a toy?
Demanding what others have died to win,
With the reckless dash of a boy.

You have written my lesson of duty out,
Manlike, you have questioned me.
Now stand at the bar of my woman' soul
Until I shall question thee.

You require your mutton shall always be hot,
Your socks and your shirt be whole;
I require your heart be true as God's stars
And as pure as His heaven your soul.

You require a cook for your mutton and beef,
I require a far greater thing;
A seamstress you're wanting for socks and shirts -
I look for a man and a king.

A king for the beautiful realm called Home,
And a man that his Maker, God,
Shall look upon as He did on the first,
And say: " It is very good."

I am fair and young, but the rose may fade
From this soft young cheek one day;
Will you love me then 'mid the falling leaves,
As you did 'mong the blossoms of May?

Is your heart an ocean so strong and true,
I may launch my all on its tide?
A loving woman finds heaven or hell
On the day she is made a bride.

I require all things that are grand and true,
All things a man should be;
If you give this all, I would stake my life
To be all you demand of me.

If you cannot this, a laundress and cook
You can hire and little to pay;
But a woman's heart and a woman's life
Are not to be won that way.

Perhaps to us, now is not the time yet, but its something that all of us would possibly go through. To both guys and girls, be children after God's heart, and in everything, make God the centre.