Did Your Engagement Ring Include Liking?
‘Madly in love’ is what prompts most couples to go shop for that engagement ring to show the world they are thinking of getting married. A wonderful engagement ring with a solitaire diamond dazzling on the girl’s ring finger makes everyone’s thoughts turn to love, as so it should. Love does make the world go round, especially when you can proudly display proof of it with an engagement ring on your finger.
In all this euphoric whirligig, we sometimes do forget to examine whether love has a strong enough foundation. An emotion that might pale in comparison to the thunder and lighting and moonlight and roses kind of feeling. It is an absolute necessity though. Like a house with a firm foundation that stands the test of time, marriage with liking as a base can weather most problems.
It’s a sad fact but true that love is such a powerful, active emotion that you tend to lash out at the person you love when you feel that there’s trouble brewing. Liking on the other hand is a more passive, a more accepting emotion. Granted that just liking might be a rather boring emotion to spark off thought about an engagement ring between the sexes but liking as an add-on feeling to love is the best combination when it comes to marriage.
Look at what you feel for your friends – it’s not that mad pulses-racing kind of feeling. But you know it’s strong, it’s deep and neither time nor space really affects the feeling. Why can’t we have the same kind of feeling for our spouse too? We can, if we try. And once we give liking its rightful place in our relationship, it’s a whole different ball game. There’s the comfort of companionship, there’s the steadfastness of unchanging acceptance, there’s the warmth of togetherness. Liking endures and like the wind that raises a kite to fly high up above the world, liking can be the emotion that keeps your marriage up above the cares of the world.
So if you are thinking of getting that engagement ring, pause a moment and ask yourself the question: do I like her as well as love her? A no-holds barred Yes would mean you really should get to that jeweller fast and choose that engagement ring. And when you slip that engagement ring on, make a promise to yourself that as you make love grow, you will make sure that liking grows too.
