Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Keep filling the Jelly Bean Jar

At my Nephews wedding my younger brother and his wife gave a short speech. My brother and his wife are fairly conservative. Before the speech, my brother said to me, as I congratulated him on the bible reading he had done at the ceremony, "I hope that I don't blow my next speech, I have some humour in the speech, and I hope that everyone gets it and laughs" I told him I would lead the laughter if needed.

What my brother had to say surprised all of us and here is one of the things he had to say about marriage and how to keep a healthy relationship. (I hope I do his speech justice)

"Rule number 10 for a happy marriage, Keep filling the Jelly Bean Jar. Now, not many people know about the Jelly Bean Jar, but when your mom and I were married, we had to go for marriage lessons. The first lesson the minister told us was to keep filling the Jelly Bean Jar. We  must of looked confused, because the minister said, "what you do is you go out and buy a great big jar and fill it with Jelly Beans, and every time you make love in the first year of your marriage you take a Jelly Bean out of the Jar." He continued, "by the end of the first year the Jelly Bean Jar will be empty. For the rest of your life, every time you make love, put a Jelly Bean back into the Jar and by the end of your life, hopefully the Jelly Bean Jar will be full again." 

My brother continued to say that he and his wife had been together for 44 years and that they continued to fill the Jelly Bean Jar. I watched his two sons, and daughter faces as they move from puzzlement to laughter. The whole room lit up with laughter and my brother had to wait for the room to calm down before he and his wife continued with the other rules of keeping a marriage strong.

My brother ended the speech by saying, " Marriage is not just about Jelly Beans, it is about commitment to each other, helping and supporting each other and growing in joy with each other." He then pulled out a bag and asked his son and his new wife to come up as he said he and his wife had a present for them. My brother opened the bad and presented his son and his new wife with a big jar filled with Jelly Beans. The audience loved it.

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