How fantastic to be here with Lorna and Adam as they publicly make promises of marriage. I haven’t been married all that long, in fact it was just a couple of days ago that I celebrated my 4th Wedding Anniversary. That means that I can actually still say that I have lived in the same house with Lorna, longer than I have with my husband. Lorna is a great friend and great fun to live with, in fact, Adam, I’m a little jealous that you get to spend so much time with my wonderful friend Lorna.
Friendships are what makes life so wonderful. Food, clothing and shelter are said to be the necessities of life, they are what keep us living, but it is our relationships with other people that make life rich, and worth living for. The most important of these relationships is with your spouse. Family in both directions, those yet to come and the families you are now linking together, are important and will always be there, but you and your spouse will be a family unit together forever.
In an article I read online from an old copy of the Ensign[1] a lady spoke about a newlywed couple that she thought seemed to spend too much time playing tennis and going on holidays. She said that being a bit older and wiser she knew that ‘...life was too serious for the amount of time they were spending just enjoying each other’. The husband explained his philosophy to the lady and I agree with him whole heartedly, he said, “Our marriage is an eternal relationship. If it is strong and happy, then I can live with whatever challenges life brings. If it isn’t, then no wonderful job or anything else can make up for that loss. Our marriage is going to get the highest priority of my time, money, and energy.”
What a great philosophy to have. Today is a happy special day for both of you, time, money and energy has been spent making this a day to remember, but this shouldn’t be your only day to remember. Let this day be the start of many more together.
Our marriages are sacred relationships. In her article Barbara Workman goes on to say:
A key to unlocking healthy fun in marriage is faith—faith in God, in each other, and in the future—faith enough to relax and enjoy the day we are now living.
Before I was married and even on my wedding day, and probably a while after that too, I wondered why almost every talk at a wedding included something about trials, and how you will have them. Isn’t a wedding supposed to be a happy time, a time for celebration? What I have come to realise is that anyone, married or not will have trials, but from today onwards you may face new types of trials, but most importantly you won’t be facing them alone.
Bruce C Hafen[2] writes in his book ‘Covenant Hearts’:
We may start off being married for comfort. But then problems come along. If we try seriously to solve them, we may not always be comfortable, but we will grow. Then we will end up being married not simply for comfort but for joy.
Joy is a higher, wiser form of existence than merely being comfortable. Elder Neal A Maxwell said, “Pleasure takes the form of ‘me’ and ‘now,’ while real joy is ‘us’ and ‘always.’” Yet that kind of joy is not separate from trouble and pain, but is usually mixed with them, as if somehow it is not possible without them.
In my own marriage I can see that this is true. We have had a lot of easy comfort time, which has been happy time, but the real joy has come amidst the challenges that we have faced together especially those brought with children.
I am so happy to be with you here today, and see your smiling faces. I am excited to see your future together and what it may bring.....
