by Clarence Hill Jr.
The number of years that a couple has been married hardly imparts confidence to the ears of those who are aware of the multitude of failing marriages. Having seen couples, from newlyweds to those married forty plus years, suffer the tragedy of divorce, we are faced with the challenge of finding a greater way to effect a change. There must be a strategy that offers more than confidence in the strength of an individual and their ability to beat the odds by personally applying proper marriage principles. Consider the strength of relationships and community as an answer to the marriage challenge. In the days before divorce began to run rampant and marriage was still honorable, promising and a foundation stone of society, any couple could boast of one hundred years of marriage experience while they themselves may have only been married less than ten years. At least one set of grandparents on both sides would add up to at least 70 years. Their own parents would typically have been married for at least 20 years each, providing 40 more years. In addition to those sums, aunts and uncles would provide a number of years that would take the total far above 100 years.
Is the marriage problem a simple math equation? To a degree it is. Now that most families have been torn apart, how many couples can tally just 50 years of marriage experience from relatives with whom they keep a decent relationship? Even when they can top 50 years, there often isn't any time set aside for any true relationship in our busy culture when the rich soil of marriage experience is readily available.
If you have been married for one year, five years, twenty years or forty years, your presence and contribution to the total years of marriage experience in the community provide couples with the confidence that longevity in marriage is a realistic goal that does not have to be at the expense of the happiness and pleasure that was ordained by God for marriages.
Make your years available to someone else through relationships. It is easy: 1) you could join the Eye to Eye community, 2) you could begin to purposely build friendships in your own church or community and/or 3) you could re-build relationships with your own siblings through love and friendship.
