you know what?

Lately I have enjoyed searching for talks on marriage on lds.org. Okay, I've always enjoyed this but lately I've been reading and listening to older ones. Tonight I found THIS ONE by Elder Haight from 1984. I have noticed a common theme in the talks I've read and it is in the first line of this quote.

"It would seem that a major underlying cause of divorce is in not understanding that marriage and families are God-given and God-ordained. If we understood the full meaning we would have less divorce and its attendant unhappiness. Couples would plan for a happy marriage relationship based on divine instruction. If couples understood from the beginning of their romance that their marriage relationship could be blessed with promises and conditions extending into the eternities, divorce would not even be a considered alternative when difficulties arise. The current philosophy—get a divorce if it doesn’t work out—handicaps a marriage from the beginning."

We need to study in the scriptures and go to the Temple often. We are BOMBARDED on every side with false doctrine that counters this. If we want to "let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly" then we need to fill our minds with this doctrine and anything that supports it!

Another quote.

"Our concern is not just that media producers and writers don’t portray happy, fruitful marriage, but that many married couples don’t take their marriages seriously enough—to work at them, protect them, nurture them, cultivate them day in and day out, week in and week out, yearlong, quarter-century long, half-a-century long, forever."

Okay, so I could ramble off a bit about this because I am all about "an apple a day" but seriously, if we are going to just take what is dished and not "seek out and promote that which is uplifting and happy and decent", then we will have a difficult time keeping our heads straight!

One more quote.

"Marriage is sustained by faith and knowledge of its divine establishment, and is sustained daily by the energy of love. A wise man explained, “When the satisfaction or the security of another person becomes as significant to one as one’s own satisfaction and security then the state of love exists.” (Harry Stack Sullivan, Concepts of Modern Psychiatry, 2d ed. New York: W. W. Norton and Co., 1961, p. 42.)"

I am so grateful to be married!