Some Reflections On Marriage
|
|||||||||
Padmaja Prasad | May 14, 2009
“The ideal that marriage aims at is that of spiritual union through the physical. The human love that it incarnates is intended to serve as a stepping stone to divine or universal love.” ~ Mohandas K. Gandhi~
Simply stated, traditional marriage is grounded in a legal association between a male and female who agree to honour prescribed vows with an understanding to share their lives and care for each other until one passes away.
The legal obligation underlines the need for constant commitment and it helps to bring significant stability and meaning to human relationships. It motivates both partners to stay committed to their relationship through the happy as well as the challenging times.
A marriage is a lifetime investment of love, hope and aspirations.
A day begins at home and ends at home. Everyone possesses unique personal habits. Our daily activities may be a simple routine but it will change as we grow older. Also as human beings, our temperaments will also undergo transformation across the years. Nothing in life is constant. We evolve with time and our partner must be able to understand, recognize and appreciate these changes that come with time. We too must be emotionally mature and and mentally accommodating to allow our partner the space to grow into a completely self-realized individual.
Moreover, life will always present us with financial, health, emotional or spiritual challenges as we grow older and our partner should be understanding and supportive during the best and worst of times. Much care and sensitivity must be factored into any marriage to build up the trust and reliability factors. A marriage should be based on more than physical attraction, a desire to have children, or to please parents. There should be emotional, mental and spiritual compatibility or else both partners will be sentenced to a lifetime of alienation and bitterness.
Much care, and time should be taken before agreeing to exchange marriage vows and both parties should be apprised of the fact that marriage while bringing many joyful moments is also fraught with disappointment and tears. A successful marriage is like a good recipe whose main ingredients are love, commitment, understanding, concern and togetherness.
Ask any couple that has been married for over ten years. They will reveal that a happy relationship or good marriage takes hard work, patience, devotion, sacrifice and at times, heartaches in order to last a lifetime. For that, we need to find the right person and to be the right person. Martin Luther was correct when he wrote, “There is no more lovely, friendly and charming relationship, communion or company than a good marriage.”
But in these times of instant gratification and self-indulgence, how many of us are willing to work that hard?
Filed Under: Miscellaneous
|
|||||||||
My husband and I have been happily married for more than 31 years. I agree that a good marriage will at times require compromise and sacrifice, particularly when the care of children and elderly parents enters the picture, but I have never thought of it as “hard work.” My husband and I fundamentally agree on the important things in life, despite small differences. I am very lucky to have found a compatible spouse, but it was more than luck that we found each other; it was the fact that we were mature enough to recognize each other’s worth.
Great reflections.
But in todays world everything is counted & compared with materialist things which we posses, the meaning of marriage has been deteriorated.
When young people run behind something which last for few days, however true feelings of marriage and fondness only reflect when couples get older in age and think like children.
Wow, this is a great article. I wish I read this two years ago. I appreciate the insight.