MISS MARRIAGE MATERIAL: Marriage and the Media

Marriage

-give it 200%-

Today let’s take a step back and look for a minute at our media intake. I thought about media a lot this week and am disappointed in some of my favorite shows and was surprised at the subliminal messages portrayed about marriage.

-Friends: One of the most popular movies in the late 1990s. Main character Ross is married and divorced 3 times in a little more than 2 years.

-Keeping up with the Kardashians: A famous family that nearly everyone knows is full of divorces and unstable family relationships.

-Married at First Sight: Literally a TV show dedicated to people whose first conversation is their wedding vows.

-Hannah Montana: Miley Cyrus lived with only her dad

-The Suite life of Zach and Cody: The boys lived with only their mom

The list could literally go on forever and that is not including movies, popular magazines, social media, and even literature. I understand that many marriages are struggling and how portraying characters with applicable home situations is a good way to get fans. But what is happening to our society as we are constantly being surrounded with unstable and broken families being portrayed as ideal?

God’s divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave. Families can be together for eternity. Imagine the change in our society if completed, stable families were the norm. If there were never such a thing as a ‘starter marriage,’ and once we promised to love each other through sickness and in health, it started to really mean something. I believe our country would be more peaceful and our families would be stronger.

*Elder Bruce C. Hafen taught in his talk Covenant Marriage that, ”Marriage by nature is a covenant (a promise between us and God), not a private contract one may cancel at will.” Marriages should not be seen as just another relationship meant to last only a short period of time and then terminated at the first sign of a storm. Marriages should be given 200%. Each person needs to give at least 100% in order for things to work out. When days get rough, marriages get hard. My good friend told me that her and her husband struggle sometimes and want to pull their hair out and just scream at each other. What keeps them going is the love between them. Sometimes you can’t hardly find anything good about each other but as long as you give all you can give, and love is still your goal, no situation is impossible

**President Joseph Fielding Smith promises us, ”Your able service does not go unnoticed by that God whom you serve and in whose work you are engaged. He has blessed you and he will continue to bless you with the good things of the earth, and he will hold in reserve for you the riches of eternity.” I know that is a true statement. The media can tell us what it wants, but true blessings come from living what we believe and serving God. is by nature a covenant, not just a private contract one may cancel at will

Our faith and dedication to our marriages can be the start. If we influence those around us and they see the good and make changes in their lives, they will begin to influence others. Eventually the world will benefit through our actions. Let’s start sending a better message to families everywhere by spreading stores of successful marriages!

We will be the start of a stronger generation.

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