More than a happy marriage

Greetings, friends please note my donate button on the top right.
Danette is my dear neighbor in bloggyland.  We met out
here during one of  darkness periods of my life.  Danette
reached out to me and became a fierce prayer warrior for me.
Now all these months later she is a dear friend.  Her beloved
husband, Scott, is recovering from cancer.  Their family needs
our help.  My own immediate family has been touched my four
catastrhophe illnesses not counting my own degenerate disease.

No family should have to suffer the strain of disease compounded
with the stress of  medical bills.  Please join me is supporting this
donation effort.

The secret to a happy marriage from someone who has
been married her entire adult life, just not to the same person.
Staying married is not the same thing as being
happily married.  I know plenty of people who
get divorces after 20, 30, 40 and, yes, even 50 years of
marriage.  They stayed married, out of some duty to their kids,
to keep face, and, the worse
reason of all, to keep stuff.
Cheaper to keep her, they say.

First things first.
Happiness is fleeting and temporary.
Happiness should not define a marriage.

Joy should define a marriage.
Joy is rich with texture.
Mountains and valleys.
Moments running, walking and crawling.
Seasons of bent knees.
Challenges and triumphs.
Shared history.  
In all the good and bad life brings

Find your best friend and marry them.
A joyful marriage is based on mutual
unconditional love, respect and admiration.

No pretty face or promise of wild sexual pleasure
could  shake a joyful marriage.
Marriage includes a partner you can turn to
in seemingly worse of times.

No one should marry with the option of divorce.
No amount of physical or emotional abuse is tolerable.
There is no love in someone who abuses. 

In these very uncertain times turn to your
spouse and say:  If you lose your job
come home.  I will love you through
thick and thin. You can count on me.

My beloved, if you become sick or
incapacitated, I will care for you
and love you.  I will be your staff
when you are weak.

No matter what I will love you.
From the beginning, from the
first I told my children no matter
what I will love you.  There is
nothing you could say or do
to make me stop. And so, it
should be the same in marriage.

Unconditional love.

Is there disappointment? Yes.
Is there fear? Yes.
Do you need to make yourself vulnerable? Yes.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said it best in reference to
America's involvement in the Vietnam war.   
There can be no great disappointment where
there is no great love.


Until next time.