An Eternal Perspective to Marriage

Have you ever watched a movie where two characters fall madly in love, and then when they get
married, they express how much their love will last forever? After, if they show the wedding, the words
are uttered,“‘Til death do us part,” which is something that completely cuts off their forever love.
Or what about those terrible news stories where families mourn the loss of a loved one and they are
completely distraught because they feel they will never see them, again. How terrible must that feel to
be in utter despair?

Thankfully, there is such a way to have an eternal marriage and family through the covenants we
make and the sealing power in the temple. For those who may be unfamiliar, in the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter Day Saints, we believe it is possible for families to be together forever through the
sacred work we do in our temples. However, the work of keeping our covenants and upholding our
eternal potential must be done outside of the temple, specifically in the home. This could include
quality family time, gospel studies in the home, and date nights.

One may be wondering the difference between an eternal marriage and one that is only through civil
contract. To that, I offer a quote from Elder Bruce C. Hafen Of the Seventy of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter Day Saints. He frankly states, “When troubles come, the parties to a contractual
marriage seek happiness by walking away. They marry to obtain benefits and will stay only as long as
they’re receiving what they bargained for. But when troubles come to a covenant marriage, the
husband and wife work them through. They marry to give and to grow, bound by covenants to each
other, to the community, and to God. Contract companions each give 50 percent; covenant
companions each give 100 percent” (Hafen, 26). Now obviously, there are many contractual
marriages that do last for a lifetime, which is absolutely wonderful. But to expand upon this quote,
when we are able to have an eternal perspective if our marriages and our lives, we tend to have more
of appreciation of marriage and the effort it takes.

In my own experience, my husband and I married last April, both at the age of 19, in the Fort Collins,
Colorado Temple. Throughout this year, we experienced moving three times, losing jobs, going to
school, and have had our share of late night tear fests. However, what gets us through is remembering
why we got married in the first place, as well as knowing that we have an eternity to learn and grow
with each other. No marriage is going to be easy or perfect in every way. But, thankfully, there is a way
to be able to work on it without that looming clock of “death do us part”.

References:

Bruce C. Hafen, “Covenant Marriage,” Ensign, Nov 1996, 26