Colleen Cluff
If someone were to walk up to a happy married couple and ask if they loved each other, I am sure the answer would be yes. Just the fact that they look happy together would be an indication that there is something more than just tolerance. But is there more to marriage than happy feelings? Yes. Having a strong marriage means having a covenant marriage– and having a covenant marriage means having a marriage filled with joy. I am sure there are several couples that are just civilly married and they love their life together, but marriage wasn’t just made for this earthly experience, it is meant to be an eternal covenant.
In the talk by Bruce C. Hafen, Covenant Marriage, he spoke of the difference between a covenant and contract marriage. He says, “Contract companions each give 50 percent; covenant companions each give 100 percent.” (Hafen, p. 1) This implies that in a marriage where the couple was sealed in God’s temple, they understand that they are here to give to their spouse. They know what it means to have Christ in their marriage. They truly want to become something better from having made such a large covenant.
This week has made me think a lot about the day I was sealed to my husband. What a whirlwind of a day it was. The morning flew by and the next thing I knew I was kneeling across the alter from him. I was so giddy. I could feel love all through me; it was like every fiber of my being was in love with this man. Looking into his eyes in the temple, I saw love. I saw my future. I saw eternity. As I made a covenant with him and the Lord I knew it was the smartest and greatest decision I could have ever made. And now, everyday I feel the sweet blessing of getting to live in this covenant with him, and what sweet assurance I have to know I get to feel this everyday for the rest of forever.
Marriage is a personal thing to each couple out there. I know some people dream of the perfect marriage and their dream ends up being their worst nightmare. For those people my heart aches for them. But what peace we can find knowing that all blessings we have been promised we can obtain. It may not be in this life, but as long as we have faith in Christ, and act daily in the ways we have been commanded, God is bound to follow through on all His promises. I know that joy comes in and through Christ. And because of Him we can be with our spouse for all time. And like Elder Bednar said in his talk Marriage is Essential to His Eternal Plan, “The ultimate blessings of love and happiness are obtained through the covenant relationship of eternal marriage.” (Bednar, p.3) And the blessings and happiness we can feel from marriage are not only for this earthly experience but for the eternities.
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