Marriage Is Essential

In September, 1995, I remember sitting in A Relief Society General Women’s Meeting where President Gordon B. Hinckley presented the document, The Family: A Proclamation to the World, I remember thinking, “Wow, what a wonderful proclamation on the family.  I was a young mother, with four young daughters so this document really hit home to me. I didn’t realize at the time, however, how prophetic this documents would become. 

Twenty one years later the family and marriage are under serious attack.  Traditional marriage between a woman and a man is declining.  Divorce, cohabitation, unwed mothers, and single parent families are becoming the norm.  This trend is startling to me.

I love the paragraph in the Family Proclamation that states, “Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan.  Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity.”

I am so blessed to have been born and raised in a family with two parents who love each other and have set an example of marriage fidelity and love for me.  Both of my parents were also raised in that traditional family.  I realize how blessed I am to have those special family bonds.  My parents just celebrated their 60^th wedding anniversary this past August.  We were blessed as a family to have the entire family together over Labor Day weekend. There is a total of 59 of us.

I know that marriage isn’t always going to be easy.  Problems will always arise.  It is how we handle those problems as a couple that makes a difference in our marriage.  There is no room for selfishness in a marriage.  

 President James E. Faust has strong opinions about what is not provocation for breaking the sacred covenants of marriage.  He said, “Surely it is not simply “mental distress”, nor “personality differences”, nor having “grown apart”, nor having “fallen out of love.” (Faust, J. E. (2004), August. Fathers, mothers, marriage-Ensign, 34(8), 3-7).  

We must always put our spouse and show love continually.  A successful marriage requires falling in love many times- always with the same person.

Gordon B. Hinckley said, “A good marriage requires time.  It requires effort. You have to work at it.  You have to cultivate it.  You have to forgive and forget.  You have to be absolutely loyal one to another.”(Hinckley, G. B. (1999), February. Life’s obligations – Ensign). 

I know this to be true.  My marriage of 33 years has been a marriage of constant nourishment.  Working together as a couple and parents we learn and grow each day.  We work on being best friends and keeping that happiness and love that a marriage needs. It’s a work in progress and we are working for eternity.