I RECENTLY attended a wedding and during the ceremony, I have so many thoughts about how can marriage be lasting?
Yes, most often when people fall in love and get married, it is because they have found something perfect in that person. But of course, people will always have flaws -- the question is, can you accept the other person's inadequacies? Or what really are the essentials of a happy marriage?
First, I can say that to gauge the joy in married life is by the multiple scars that the couple carries in their hearts, earned from years of throwing harmful and angry words to each other. Thus, a lasting marriage is not when the perfect couple comes together but it is when an imperfect couple adopts and enjoys their differences.
Second, the two bonded by God should be true to each other. He or she is not expected to be 100 percent perfect, but honest and faithful. And if one commits a mistake, the partner should be humble enough to accept mistakes and the other should be forgiving and not be vengeful.
Third, the couple should live life together centering God in their lives. Without God, a couple could bring out the worst in one another. Hence, husbands and wives should not be preoccupied on how to live life richly and comfortably because, without a spiritual relationship with God, they will soon find no meaning in their relationship.
Lastly, a happy marriage is when both of you still kisses each other even when one screws up. It is when the couple finds time to watch the stars in the sky and names one for you -- it is when he or she will choose to marry you repeatedly.
Oh, thank you Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Dela Peña for inviting me to your wedding. I have realized that it is so wonderful to marry the person that liberates us from any pretensions, humbles us from our self-centeredness and strengthens us from all the sorrows that we encounter.