The Ups and Downs of Marriage

Marriage has several elements: love, commitment, sexual desire, admiration, and friendship. As a marriage matures, so does the commitment to resolve problems and to deepen the friendship.

Every couple agrees that marriage has its ups and downs. The up times are when love is as plain as day and fully visible. The down times are when love goes undercover and incognito. So commonplace are the ups and downs that one wonders why they aren't written into the wedding vows. But they are. When a husband and wife vow to love for better or for worse, it includes the full extent of the ups and downs.

Marriage will always ask you to prove love. To be married is not to be taken off the front lines of love but to be plunged into the thick and thin of the ups and downs.

-From Diamonds in the Dust by Joni Eareckson Tada; part of The Inspirational Study Bible: New Century Version by Max Lucado

Marriage - and every other relationship in our lives - has ups and downs. How do you respond to problems or challenges in your friendships or in your marriage? It may be hard to work through problems, but it is the right way! Work it out. Don't give up!

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