Keeping Marriage to Last Forever

When we first exchanged our “I Dos” 44 years ago, we kept in mind that our marriage would last till death. The officiating city judge told us that our vow was binding “till death do we part”. That’s it. We were 21 years old at that time and we were still studying in college.

The first year, the second year until the 7th year of our married life was full of challenges in various extent. We had even a time that we’d been separated for several months and later we were able to reconcile and started all over again. It was the greatest trial we ever had in our marital relationship.

At the 8th year of our marriage, everything had changed. We had found the secret of making our marriage stays as inspiring and loving all the time even as of this posting time. We had found the truth that marriage is ordained of God, that everyone of us has the spiritual responsibility for our children by letting them grow up according to the “nurture and admonition of the Lord.”

We had a second chance to spiritually exchange “I Do” when we were sealed in the Temple of God. In 1980, we had made a rightful decision to be baptized at the true Church of Jesus Christ. We had kept our baptism covenant faithfully. We had accepted the challenge to be sealed for time and eternity. And that our marriage could last forever if we do keep our marriage covenant.

Take It or Leave It

You may not understand this for this is our faith. This is our belief and this is what we have covenanted it. Anyway, the simple reasons why we keep our marriage vow to last this 44 years so far are as follows as what we have covenanted:

1. We take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ. In so doing, we call ourselves as Christians.
2. We always remember Him in everyday we do. He is our example. We accept Him as our personal Savior, Redeemer. His death on the cross made us to free from the bondage of sin.
3. We keep God’s commandments by knowing them and doing them in spite of our weaknesses. His commandments are our yardsticks on how faithful we are, on how true we are with our baptism covenant.
4. We endure to the end by overcoming any temptations in any form, by relying to the Lord for our infirmities, by praying everyday, among others.

These are the spiritual principles of TAKE. These are the basis on how we prove our faith to our Heavenly Father and to His Begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

As part of our spiritual obligations to stay faithful to the Church, we have three things to do to make ourselves approved before the Lord. First is to bring those people back to the fold of God through missionary work. Second is to perfect ourselves by studying the Gospel of Jesus, the Scriptures. And the third is to help the dead attain their salvation through the sacred ordinances inside the Temple.

Aside from such spiritual insights, I still keep courting my wife everyday just like before. We are still trusting each other. We give due to respect to any decision we have made. We maintain the attitude of forgiving as we have to understand that we are not perfect.

And lastly, we do believe that our family could be together forever. My family members were sealed to us in a sacred temple ordinances performed by the priesthood who has the authority to do it in behalf of the Lord.

image by Toanmda/Pixabay/Public Domain