Marriage: Give & Take
The
following words of wisdom were passed on to my brother and to me when we were
in high school during the early 60s. These wise words were from our daddy, the
late Hermise Mason Wilkins.
Daddy
started by telling us to be sure to marry someone you really and truly love,
someone you would still want to be married to when you’re both old, fat, and
wrinkled. He said, “Make sure it’s REAL
love, not any of that puppy love stuff.”
Daddy
said to love them like you’re never going to be hurt, love them unconditionally.
BUT, he cautioned us, “Never love
nobody more than you love yourself.” He further explained the following to us.
When
you marry give it all you’ve got, EVERY
day. Some days it will be 50/50, you’ll give 50% and your spouse will give 50%.
THIS is a GOOD day!
Some
days you will have to give 60% because your spouse is only giving 40%.
Other
days your spouse will only give 30% so you have to give 70%.
There
will even be days when you’re giving 80% and your spouse is only giving 20%.
Wait!
If you think that’s bad wait until you’re giving 90% and your spouse is giving
only 10%.
It
gets even more challenging than that. There’ll be days when your spouse is
giving nothing-nada-zero-zilch - 0%. Then, you have to give 100%. GIVE IT!!!
From
50/50 to 0/100 give your marriage ALL you’ve got – ALL the time.
Then,
if things don’t work out you will have done your part. Don’t let it be you that didn’t do all you could do in
your marriage.
There
you have, my daddy’s Wise Words of
Wisdom concerning marriage. This was long before Teddy Pendergrass released
his song “When Somebody Loves You Back”.
What
are your thoughts on marriage? Did anyone give you marriage advice before you
married? Who was it? What did they tell you? Do you have any marriage advice of your own to share? We'd love to hear it.
