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©2004 The Marriage Transformation Newsletter
Empowering people to create happy, lasting, spiritually-based
marriages—the foundation of a prosperous, unified world
Empowering people to create happy, lasting, spiritually-based
marriages—the foundation of a prosperous, unified world
| October 2004 |
Volume 1, Issue 7 |
© 2004
Marriage Transformation LLC
Y Y Y Y Y
Opportunity to Serve
the Project
Relationship
and
Marriage Resources
Enhancing Your Relationship
with
Pure Gold
Receive New Products
Automatically
Take Five: A Tip for Marriage Enrichment
Featured
Item
Hurry!
Sweetest Day Package!
Offer good
through Saturday!
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A Marriage Enrichment Guide
that Builds Intimacy and Strengthens Your Relationships!
The Marriage Transformation Project is a global social and economic development project committed to marriage education and marriage skill building for people at all stages of relationships. In addition to our own independent work in developing materials, we draw on the work of marriage researchers and experts. We also derives part of our inspiration and content from the teachings of the world's religions. These include the following faiths: Baha'i, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, and Zoroastrian.
Click here for further project information.
...serve one another
in love.
The Holy Bible, Galatians 5:13
From Susanne Alexander and Craig Farnsworth Lending a Helping Hand Being of service to one another and to others is a strong practice in our marriage, and one that we highly encourage all of you to engage in. Service is a concept that at times people have mixed reactions to. For some, the idea of serving one's spouse seems more like slavery or forced servitude. Part of what has service be successful in nurturing a relationship, is pairing it with equality. We both do things for one another…it's not just one of us in action. We consciously look for things to do that bring happiness (or stress relief!) to the other. On a quick trip to Niagara Falls, Ontario, last weekend, we spent time going through the section about Service in “Pure Gold: Encouraging Character Qualities in Marriage”. For us, it's important to look at balance and moderation in our lives. We reflected on areas where we were doing too much and where we might have neglected actions. It helped us notice that it had been too long since we had visited two elderly shut-in friends, and so we stopped in to visit them on our way home. You'll notice that one of the gifts we are offering with Pure Gold in our Sweetest Day package (see below and on our website) is a set of Service and Time worksheets. For years, when we are asked to do “one more thing,” we have used a structure like one of the worksheets, that has us look at our lives and priorities. We review the latest plans and guidance from our faith to ensure we are on track, pause to see if we can develop someone else's skills and talents by handing service over to them, check our motives for involvement, and assess if we are spending enough time with one another and family members. Then, when there is an endless stream of possible services we can engage in, we have to pause and ensure we are spending enough time on rest and relaxation so we are prepared to keep serving! Are we spending adequate time alone? Doing creative pursuits? Spending fun couple time? Eating, drinking, sleeping, and exercising adequately? We are finding our recommended book this month, A Pace of Grace by Linda Kavelin Popov, helpful and encouraging in this quest for mental, spiritual, and physical balance. Service takes us outside ourselves and connects us to one another and out to friends, family, and new acquaintances. It brings joy to our hearts to open our home for activities. We love to see the smiles on other's faces when we know we have made a difference for them. How can you be of service this month?
An
Opportunity to Serve the We are looking for people who can answer questions in a mini-survey about relationships. The replies will contribute confidentially to material we are currently developing. Participants must be unmarried, but can be in or out of a relationship, and be of any age, race, or religion. The questions are on our website and can be copied and pasted into an email or Word document, answered, and then returned to staff@marriagetransformation.com or susanne@marriagetransformation.com. We appreciate receiving answers by October 30, 2004 or sooner!
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Extraordinary
Sweetest Day Package! In celebration of Sweetest Day (October 16) and to support love, romance, and relationships/marriages globally, we are offering you a unique and specially-priced offer on our newest book, Pure Gold: Encouraging Character Qualities in Marriage! For less than the cost of two movie tickets, you will receive a copy of Pure Gold and special bonus gifts for only $13.95! Click here to learn more about this limited time special! Your special bonus gifts include: [Note: Please indicate on the order form if there are any gifts you don't want.]
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Relationship and Marriage Resources Available on Website Have you seen our Recommended Resources page on our website yet? We've sifted through many marriage resources and include, on our website, great suggestions for a wide variety of books, products, programs/workshops, online courses, relationships inventories/assessments, and websites! We add to the list regularly, so please check back often!
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Enhancing Your Relationship with "Pure Gold" We encourage you to provide service
to one another and to others. To help you fully understand how
service can benefit your relationship, below is an excerpt about
Service from Pure
Gold. Enjoy! All effort and
exertion put forth by man from the fullness of his heart is
worship, if it is prompted by the highest motives and the will
to do service to humanity…service
is prayer. Service is doing loving actions for one another. The more we
do acts of service in our marriage and our home, the deeper the
bond between us grows. We look for opportunities to do the everyday
actions that make life easier for the other, no matter how small.
Service is an attitude that says no task is too much to do for
someone we love and care about. This attitude also assists us
to help others who may be less fortunate than we are in some
ways. Through generously spending time doing service for others,
we increase love and happiness in our lives. Service that is
sincere, joyful, and compassionate with our hearts full of love
for God makes our marriage happier, healthier, and stronger. What does Service look like to us? © 2004 Marriage Transformation LLC, Excerpt taken from "Pure Gold: Encouraging Character Qualities in Marriage." Permission required for use of any kind beyond circulating this newsletter. |
Receive New Products Automatically and Hassle-Free Are you excited about marriage transformation
and willing to share We have designed a new
system that will allow you to sign up for standing orders. You
will automatically receive your desired quantity when a new product
becomes available. Click
here for the Marriage Transformation
Project's Automatic Order Registration. |
Theme: Developing Greater Capacity to Address Humanity's Urgent Needs
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Take Five: A Tip for Marriage Enrichment Supporting and nurturing your marriage doesn't have to be a burden or something that takes a long period of concentrated effort. You can enhance your intimacy and strengthen your relationship in as little as five minutes! Consider saying a prayer together and reading the spiritual quote and a character quality definition from Pure Gold each morning or evening. Don't worry if you don't have time to sit down and talk about each discussion question. Simply praying and reading will focus your attention on one another and your relationship. It really provides you with spiritual nourishment for the day!
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A
Pace of Grace: The Virtues of a Sustainable Life We tried sharing this
book with a friend recently, and she said the problem was, she
was too busy to read it! Our advice? Read it at a "pace of grace"!
This book for us is a much-needed reminder that we have to pause
for self-care and energy renewal to maintain a sustainable life.
It's easy to think that everything we must to is vitally important
and that it must all be done immediately. This book is a reminder
that we bring more vitality, creativity, and joy to our lives and
our loved ones if we live it filled with spiritual virtues and
at "A Pace of Grace."
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After receiving some feedback regarding the monthly newsletter (specifically about difficulty receiving and forwarding the graphic version to family and friends), we will now be distributing a text-only version to you, with a link to the usual graphic/html version. Please let us know if you experience any problems with this new format.
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Listserves Get the latest news about marriage and The Marriage Transformation Project as it happens! Join our announcement listserve today! MarriageTransformation-Subscribe@yahoogroups.com Did a friend forward this newsletter to you and now you want to receive your own copy each month in your email inbox? To sign up for this newsletter, go to our home page, www.marriagetransformation.com, and register in the "Newsletter Sign Up" box!
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Marriage Transformation™ Project
P.O. Box 23085
(216) 383-9943
P.O. Box 23085
www.marriagetransformation.com
Newsletter content
by Susanne Alexander and
Joyce Ashman
Newsletter Layout
and Design
by Joyce Ashman
by Susanne Alexander
Joyce Ashman
and Design
by Joyce Ashman