To You Who Begin Life Together…

Songs of love and of undying devotion are good to the ears of all of us. There would be much missing, much emptiness without music and moonlight and romance. But lovely as all these are, there must be much more than all these for the making of a lasting marriage, for the making of a good and solid life, and for keeping alive the sweetness of life.

We may walk together holding hands, with adoring eyes and high hearts. But many precious things are perishable if they are not understood, not nourished, not carefully cultivated. Life isn’t all serenity. It changes pace. It changes color. It is sometimes light and lovely, sometimes difficult and sobering. There are fair and pleasant days; there are days of illness, of disappointment, sometimes of sorrow. The covenant of marriage does not contemplate that any of these will make any difference in loyalty and love. Marriage is not only for the brighter moments, not only for the prosperous and pleasant days, but for all the days there are, endlessly and forever ⎯ and it cannot well be built on less than common ideals, common purposes, full willingness to rear a family, usefulness, and sincere service. And no one should marry with the remotest possibility in mind that the ties might sometime be severed.

And you who begin life together: Don’t let any unkind comment or act of inconsideration start its widening wedge between you two. There will be moods you will not understand; you will try each other’s patience at times; there will be differences. No two people however much in love think or act in all things altogether alike. Don’t let differences grow, don’t magnify them, don’t brood about them; bring them into the open; face facts fairly.

Avoid hasty words and quick condemnation; reserve judgment; build each other and never belittle. Avoid extravagance; live within you means; trust and be true to your trust. Forgive; forget; don’t let the errors of the past keep coming back to drive a wider wedge. Be prayerful and patient; live with faith and forbearance; be a blessing to each other always and forever, and don’t lose the loveliness of looking down the years of life together. Hold to what you have in June and let it be so, sacredly and blessedly in December.