Rev.Ray Cross, Officiant
 |
|
SELF-ADMINISTERED
PRE-MARITAL COUNSELING
Contact Rev. Ray Cross
for expert officiating
for your wedding ceremony.
ray@brideschoiceoofficiant.com
905-404-9920
|
|
Rev. Ray and Diane Cross
|
Since pre-marital counseling
with a trained counselor involves considerable expense, I offer a
self-administered process in preparation for your marriage commitment. It
offers you the opportunity of exploring issues in confidence for peaceful
household relations.
Premarital Counseling Searches Out Disagreements and Blind
Spots
Having developed materials for and led couples
through pre-marital counseling for thirty years, I have learned that the
crux of the need is helping couples to locate areas of disagreement or
blind spots in their relationship. The following resources were designed
to bring these to the surface so that I could help couples work them
through and give them insights that would enable them to wisely process
each area of their relationship. This approach proved very helpful, so
much so that most of those marriages have stayed strong through the years.
While I don't provide this counseling any more, I want couples to
benefit from unique materials designed to enhance their relationship and
build a firm foundation for their future. I hope you find this a useful and
interesting adventure -- the adventure of investing in the relationship
that will be central to your happiness for the rest of your life. If you
have any questions, I would be pleased to include discussion related to
these materials or other concerns you have during our pre-ceremony
sessions.
The more truthful your responses and sharing the better this process
works. Do not be concerned if it seems to enflame your differences. You
have not aggravated anything, rather you have merely brought to the
surface issues that will arise later if not resolved now. Your objective
should be to work through those differences constructively. Being unable
to do so red flags aspects of your relationship. If you are unable to
reach accord concerning important issues, you will need more skilled
counseling and support to process the issues that divide you. If you fail
to do so, the problems you side-step now will rear their heads later in
the pressure cooker of marriage -- a much more difficult time to manage
them. The more you are able to work toward unity before your wedding the
greater your prospect of success in marriage.
Premarital Counseling Encourages Couples to Contribute Positively to
Each Other
Marriage works as two different people learn to live together and walk
together through life in such a way that they enjoy the experience and
contribute positively to each other’s lives. To do this, they must agree
with each other. To stimulate this, I recommend that you each write
answers to all of these questions and issues on separate pieces of paper
and separately from each other. In this way, each of you will express your
own perspective. After you have done this, take time, on several
occasions, to compare your individual perspectives and to slowly work
through the issues involved. Where you disagree, discuss your differences
to come to an accord. Some issues may lead to others. Feel free to follow
wherever your discussion leads. If your love is real, it is resilient
enough to process differences. The more differences you can resolve before
you marry the better. The fewer surprises after you marry the better. If
there are issues you are unable to resolve, seek the counsel of
someone you trust, preferably someone with a strong marriage.
CONTENTS:
What is love really?
Checklist of love
Love and marriage roles
Compatibility assessor
How to love your wife
How to love your husband
Living
Wedding Vows
Return to top
Member of
TeamWedding.ca™: Complete Canadian Wedding Ideas Website!
© Ray Cross under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.5 Canada License.
Courtice Durham
Scugog Regions
GTA
Toronto Oshawa Whitby
Pickering, Ajax
Uxbrdge Scarborough
Port Perry Markham
Bowmanville Newcastle Clarington
|