Buying anniversary gifts for married couples may seem like a challenge. After all, when a couple has been married for 15 or more years, they have acquired a lot of material things. When your closest friends or family members celebrate their wedding anniversary, consider giving them a gift of encouragement for their achievement.
Every marriage offers the potential for a wonderful life where husband and wife are best friends for life. However, we are living in difficult times when the wonder of marriage seems to be losing it luster.
Newspapers and magazines, TV news and talk radio show example after example of marriages and fidelity on the decline. Separation, marriage break ups and divorce affect every two in five first-time marriages. Without fidelity in a long-term marriage, anxiety builds and people lose their dreams of a happy marriage they had on their wedding day.
A Better Marriage Ahead
But that is not the case for everyone. A wedding anniversary gift that remembers and encourages the beauty of marriage is both practical and necessary. My wife Cheryl and I have been married since 1982, more than 25 years as of this date. We discovered that what thoughts we hold and how we think affect our marriage - for better or for worse. Fortunately, I discovered something to think and believe that makes marriage much better.
What Was He Thinking? Why Didn't She Change Her Thoughts?
If you have been reading newspapers or watching TV lately, the lead stories feature a long-time married couple that breaks up, or the husband has an affair, or irreconcilable differences. It happens to politicians, celebrities and even close friends and family members. We often ask, "Why?" or "How Could They?" Somewhere, somehow, thoughts and beliefs of the husband or wife or both affected how they behaved and what they said or did to each other.
When a married couple celebrates their anniversary, communicating their love for each other is a top priority. Communication really begins in the mind, thinking positive thoughts about the marriage relationship. With the negative influence in the media, this can be really hard to do without having something to help you remember the promises made on your wedding day.
Right Thinking Leads to a Happy Marriage
According to many psychologists, including William James, James Allen and others, our thoughts shape our lives. When we repeat a thought over and over in our minds, it becomes a belief and we accept it as truth. That belief becomes woven into a chain and our beliefs guide our actions.
Now, the thing is, we did not choose every thought that we have. Many of our thoughts came from family and friends. Much of the time, they inherited their thoughts from their families and friends.
The truth is that every married couple can take control of their marriage, choose thoughts that their marriage is getting better, that God is there to help them, and that they have the gifts to become and stay best friends for life.
Three Cords of Marriage
In a spiritual marriage, husbands and wives believe that God is the third strand, the third cord in their marriage. Think of a rope, braided from cords. The sturdier the cords and the more tightly they are woven together, the stronger the rope is.
The question becomes, which makes a better life line: a rope made of fluffy cotton, or a cable braided from steel fibers? Which one would you use to climb the mountain of marriage after celebrating an anniversary?
This is where inspirational anniversary gifts can make a difference for every married couple. A wedding anniversary with positive thoughts, expressed by a poem and in a prayer are very welcome. All you need to do is to find a poem that will help the neutralize negative thoughts of the past and affirm present and future for many more happy wedding anniversaries to come.
Dave Pipitone is a professional communicator, writer and business owner. He is married to Cheryl for more than 25 years and father to Emily. Dave is the creator of the My 3 Strands prayer cards for marriage, engagement, family, friends, moms, dads and deceased loved ones.
To learn more about the My 3 Strands for Marriage wedding anniversary poem, an inspiring anniversary gift. For more information, visit www.my3strands.com.