COUPLESWAPS.BLOGSPOT.COM

Dating and establishing love relationships can be compared to choosing a vehicle. You pick out the make, model, year, color and features that you believe are best for you. After driving your vehicle for a couple of months, you realize that perhaps you should have purchased a larger car, or that maybe the leather seats would have been better, or on hot sunny days, the sunroof would have been nice. However, it is now too late so you choose to keep your car and accept the decision you made. It is the same for a marriage or couple relationship. Not everything will be perfect and there will be major obstacles to overcome but you have made your decision and now you choose to make it work no matter which marriage troubles you are experiencing. Dating and marriage is different than it was thirty years ago. Today, more than 50% of all marriages fail for one reason or another. Just thinking about that makes "commitments" and marriage vows seem scary. It seems that when relationships a...

1. Bury a time capsule together with trinkets and love letters to each other. Draw a map with an X marking the spot. Store the map in your safety deposit box or in another safe place. Dig it up in 10 or 20 years. 2. Create a music disk of love songs, fun songs or songs that remind you of each other. 3. Plant a post-it note or two in a book your love is reading. Write "I love you," I want you," or "XOXOXO." 4. Go to a photo booth at the mall together. Fool around while having your photo taken. Keep the photos in your car or at work for when you need a fun pick-me-up. 5. Plant a tree together and talk about how you will carve your names in it with a heart in 20 years. 6. Go to a coffee shop - just to sit together and talk. Or get coffee to go - go for a long scenic drive together. 7. Be naughty, play hooky together. Do whatever you want together. 8. Send your love at letter at work. Disguise it in a business envelope. Make it happy for a pick me up, loving for r...

There is a great contrast between love and lust. Lust is more of a sexual or greedy feeling, while love is more of a secure and content filled feeling we get from giving and receiving. Lust does not have to be something sexual, it can be a greedy desire for more money and power, etc. But for this article, I am using it in its sexual context. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 sums up the common traits and variances of love and lust. LOVE is kind = considerate, caring, giving, thoughtful, understanding Lust is envy = jealous, greed, spite, resentment, LOVE is not proud = humble, submissive, meek, modest Lust is self-seeking = selfish, rebellious, rude, egotistical, hateful, LOVE rejoices in the truth = God is love, Love is God = Wisdom, Holy Spirit, Lust delights in evil = Satan, sin, wicked, iniquitous, immoral, dishonest Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1John 4:8 AND Dear friends, since God so loved us, we ought to also love one another. 1 John 4:11 The world has a sup...

Lesson Purpose: To show that love is a powerful influence in our life and is the cement that bonds families together. The Lesson "It is impossible to love and to be wise." Francis Bacon "Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therein." BIBLE, Proverbs 15.17 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." BIBLE, John 3:16 "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment." BIBLE, Mark 12:30 "And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." BIBLE, Math 22:39 Where did it all get started? Here's a little poem I wrote to my wife: Adam Said To Pat on Mothers Day Saturday, May 8, 1999 Adam said, Eve my dear, You've eaten the forbidden fruit. She looked at him and answered ...

I believe the word "love" is thrown around just a bit too nonchalantly. Don't you think? People say they love but do nothing to SHOW that love. Love needs action to complete its purpose. So when I say "love who you married" that means to provide of your self in the marriage. That IS what love is! Let's take a look at 6 biblically based principles that make up several areas of loving. "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self- seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no records of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves." 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 1. Love Is Patient! Are you patient with your spouse? Patience is a virtue. It is a wonderful character trait to have and practice patience. Are you utilizing all of the potential that God has given you? Are you patient, or are you easily irritat...

How do you know whether the current romantic relationship, love affair, or even marriage is the 'right' one for you? For starters, ask yourself how you feel about 75% of the time. Be brutally honest. Would you describe your mood as predominantly happy or sad, your basic outlook as mostly positive or negative? A healthy relationship doesn't make you feel miserable. You don't need to endlessly obsess about issues over which you have no control, such as "Will he ever leave his wife so that we can be married, even after his children graduate from college, like he promised?" Why do so many people settle for being unhappy as a way of life? Often it's because they don't feel they deserve to be happy. But love doesn't, or shouldn't, make you feel bad. Can love actually be bad for you? Well, toxic love can -- and may result in relentless anxiety about the one who holds your life, hopes, and well-being in the palm of his (or her) hand. Desperate, worrie...

Someone once said to me that success isn't everything and I think I know what they really meant. I believe they really meant that money wasn't everything and I certainly agree with that. But I do believe that success IS everything. First you need to succeed to survive. We must take the seasons and learn how to use them with the seed, the soil and the rain of opportunity to learn how to sustain ourselves and our family. But then second is to then succeed to flourish in every part of your life. Good question to ask mature people "If you could do better should you?" And I thing almost everybody would answer the question in the positive. If you could improve your health shouldn't you do that? If you can learn more shouldn't you do that? If you could earn more and share more, shouldn't you do that? If you can improve your relationships and spirituality shouldn't you do that? And I think that is what success is really all about. It is not just a destination...