Bob and Linda Webster deliver a World Marriage Day sermon on Feb. 12.

Messages from the heart

On the occasion World Marriage Day was celebrated in homes, churches and communities throughout the world, our congregation had a firsthand experience with two experts on the subject, Bob and Linda Webster.

Bob and Linda have been involved in Marriage Enrichment, Celebrating Marriage, and are currently a Presenting Couple for Marriage Encounter, United Methodist. Their message, drawn from the heart, was delivered at both the 8 and 10 a.m. services, linking their own experiences with what they hoped would be experiences with which we all could relate — and learn from.

To explain the “covenant of love” that binds successful marriages, the Websters pointed to Wilbur and Theresa Faiss of Las Vegas, who have been married 79 years, making them the longest married coupled as certified by the Worldwide Marriage Encounter. According to Wilbur Faiss, who is 100, it’s all about “give and take and compromise.”

The Websters also talked about another couple who have written love letters to each other ever since they have been married — every day for 22 years. 

As for their own experiences, Bob and Linda explained that the root of a successful marriage is knowing the difference between “hearing and listening.” “Listen to one another with the heart,” they said, “and go beyond the words to listen to someone who is saying something about himself or herself.”

The decision to listen, they said, is to “give your full attention, get your whole person involved — your ears, eyes, body language, mind and heart.”

Bob and Linda also used the morning’s gospel lesson, Matthew 13:3-9, to show that the way we love each other is important to God. “For some people,” they said, “the closest they will ever come to seeing God is seeing you love one another.”

In closing, Bob and Linda read Bob Croft’s poem “Love” as a reflection of what they mean to each other and an example of what we should consider thinking about in our own relationships.

Click here to read Roy Croft’s poem:

“Love”

By Roy Croft

I love you,

Not only for what you are,

But for what I am

When I am with you.

I love you,

Not only for what

You have made of yourself,

But for what

You are making of me.

I love you

For the part of me

That you bring out;

I love you

For putting your hand

Into my heaped-up heart

And passing over

All the foolish, weak things

That you can’t help

Dimly seeing there,

And for drawing out

Into the light

All the beautiful belongings

That no one else had looked

Quite far enough to find.

I love you because you

Are helping me to make

Of the lumber of my life

Not a tavern

But a temple;

Out of the works

Of my every day

Not a reproach

But a song.

I love you

Because you have done

More than any creed

Could have done

To make me good

And more than any fate

Could have done

To make me happy.

You have done it

Without a touch,

Without a word,

Without a sign.

You have done it

By being yourself.

Perhaps that is what

Being a friend means,

After all.

Click here for more information on World Marriage Day: WMD