Eternal Marriage

Today in Sunday School we had a lesson on eternal marriage. Of course it is a topic that is very close to my heart and I am so grateful to have been blessed to be sealed to my husband forever, as long as we are both living right. Bro. Briggs read from a talk given by Elder F. Burton Howard of the quorum of the seventy that I remember hearing before, and that I think is poignant in how we should treat each other in our marriages. You can read the whole talk here but his ending remarks really hit the point home,

"If you want something to last forever, you treat it differently. You shield it and protect it. You never abuse it. You don’t expose it to the elements. You don’t make it common or ordinary. If it ever becomes tarnished, you lovingly polish it until it gleams like new. It becomes special because you have made it so, and it grows more beautiful and precious as time goes by.

Eternal marriage is just like that. We need to treat it just that way. I pray that we may see it for the priceless gift that it is."

Love is a choice, it is one we have to make daily, sometimes even hourly but I know that it is worth it to work together to resolve our differences. Being in a marriage that involves 2 ex's and "step" (I so dislike that term) children, sometimes things can get a little rocky. Shawn and I both agree that if all of our children were just "ours" then we would hardly ever disagree about anything, alas, they are not so sometimes we hit those bumps in the road that test and try us. But I am grateful to know that we do have an eternal marriage, it seems to give us a little more "sticking" power to make it through the rough patches. I know that families are so important in our Heavenly Father's eternal plan, He wants us to be together forever, not just until death! I'm grateful to be reminded of the blessings that we have been given. Thanks Heavenly Father for never giving up on any of us!