Patty and I went out for dinner tonight for Valentine’s to the “Outback,” I had a Prime Rib and she had a pork chop. It was a very nice and enjoyable evening with a very nice lady. We spent some time remembering and telling stories about the early years of our marriage when it was far from wonderful with lots of anger, arguments, and hurt feelings. We both agreed that what changed our marriage over time was a rock-solid commitment in both of us to never get divorced, never say divorce, or even to ever think of divorce. Because of the strength of that commitment we were faced with a choice, either live the rest of our lives in misery fighting or learn to get along. In the early years it wasn’t an issue of loving each other and having a wonderful marriage, it was just learning how to get along with each other in peace and unity. But over the years as we grew in our faith, our walk with the Lord, and our character our love and devotion for each other grew stronger and stronger as well. It was a “what came first, the chicken or the egg,” situation. Was it our struggle to grow in our marriage that caused our Christian life to grow or was it the growth in our faith that caused our marriage to grow? I think it was a combination of both working together. God intends that struggles and challenges in relationships stimulate our relationship with Him to grow.

A major factor in every area of life is endurance, not giving up, not quitting, finding a way, and making choices on the basis of commitment not on emotions. My Dad used to say, “Always do the right thing because it is the right thing, not because it feels good.” According to Jesus the right thing is almost always the hard thing. Those who persevere, doing the hard thing will in the end be blessed by God.