Boom... Here Comes Married Life!

Hey all, I hope all is well! Welcome to yet another post on this blog! 

I've talked about a lot of things these past few weeks. I wrote a post about dating, and about best practices when going on dates with other people. Today, I was going to go along those same lines; however, this time taking it a step further. Dates are fun opportunities to see what we want in a relationship, and in a spouse. And when someone finds a person they feel like is the right one for them, they naturally want to spend the rest of their life with them. It leads them to marriage. 

Once marriage comes, everything about life changes. You're no longer by yourself, and you need to get used to living with someone else now. I'm not married myself, but I can relate to living with random people and getting used to the way that they do things. It happened a lot during my mission. I met people from a variety of different backgrounds who didn't do things the same as I did. Sometimes it would even lead to small disputes. It really strengthened my patience with others, and as I understood why they did certain things, my compassion for them grew as well. It's the same way with marriage. Marriage is full of opportunities for two spouses to learn how to co-operate. 

Right off the bat, when a couple gets married, so much changes almost immediately. They now have to manage money together, figure out their own living arrangements and where they want to move things to, they also have to deal with each other's individual habits and preferences. Even chores can become a problem. All of these things have the potential to lead to conflict, and maybe prior to marriage they weren't even an issue. Now things get a lot more real. 

I relate this a lot with my parents. Their marriage is by no means perfect, and they are not at all what you would expect with a typical married couple. However, what they are really good at, is compromising whenever there is conflict. They are extremely different people, and so conflict is a very regular occurrence, yet they are both good in not letting their heads get too hot that it's dangerous. It's kept them married for over thirty years, even with their two different upbringings. 

Weddings are also an important opportunity for the husband and the wife to come closer together as they plan this great event together. However, in a lot of cases, this doesn't particularly ring true. Normally, the wife would plan the wedding with her mom or some other friends. This allows her to deepen her relationship with them, while not doing anything with the husband at all, who should the one she is trying to get closer to. 

Another thing that I find of interest is how there is only one word for love in the English language. No other word really exists that means the same thing. It wasn't something I had thought about before. However, in Greek, there are four different words all centered around love. Storge, Philia, Eros, and Agape. Storge is about caring more about someone even though it may hurt. Philia is more of a friendship type of love, while Eros is more of a passionate love. Lastly, Agape is an unconditional type of love. All are very important and are crucial to leading happy, fulfilling, married lives. Which "love" do you want in your marriage? As I looked through the different meanings behind love, it really shows to me how important each of them is, and we could all find ways that we can incorporate each one into our marriages, or in future marriages.