The Definition of Marriage

            Imagine walking down an aisle with everyone in the room watching every movement as the approach to the person that may become the closest companion life can offer takes place.  Marriage can be defined by three basic, yet complex action verbs which include sharing, loving, and enduring.  To have such companionship mentioned above doesn’t come easy very often, but requires years worth of growth and time spent together.  As each of us prepare to “leave the nest” and establish our own livelihoods very soon, the word “marriage” will increasingly grow as a major and difficult decision.  Marriages differ to each other in many aspects but all successful ones require both spouses to devote their lives to each other, through better or worse.

            Sharing, which can seem like a very childish action verb and has followed each of us since early elementary school learning, can make or break a marriage and can help define marriage itself.  Sharing in a marriage includes not only sharing income, but also memories, time, family aspects, and a very important spot in the lives of the spouses.  A rough figure states that in an average person’s life, two-thirds of a lifetime lived occurs with a spouse.  This figure helps state why sharing time can be detrimental in a marriage, as life’s usually highest and lowest points occur during married life and it includes such a gigantic figure of time.  Sharing can successfully build up the next action verb, loving, as sharing shows and turns an idea or feeling into an action.

            Viewed as the most significant aspect in a marriage, loving can change a persons life dramatically and can keep a person on course even through the roughest of life’s waves.  Loving in a marriage can grow to a nearly unconditional love and devotion to a spouse or might even fade with each passing day as stresses and worries wear at a marriage.  Loving a spouse, as mentioned earlier, definitely needs to always act as an action verb in a marriage to show a spouse of the devotion and love felt for him or her and to change it from just words and emotions to a tangible action and expression.  My Mom always tells me the story entitled Fan, which changes a few words of love into the tangible action mentioned above:  Mother had spent countless hours sweeping the floor, helping each child with their homework, and many other household chores as she now started washing the large stack of dishes, which would easily encumber the rest of her free time that night.  As each child swiftly passed her by, uttering the words “I love you Mom”, the youngest, named Fan, uttered those same words but stopped dead in her tracks.  Going over to the dining room table, Fan pulled a chair over to the sink and started to help Mom by washing the dishes.  The action verb of loving also means that a spouse would sacrifice their time to take care of and show their love for a spouse, which closely ties in with the last action verb, enduring.

            As nearly half of all marriages nowadays end in divorce, endurance needs to strengthen in each marriage and we need to identify it in our lives now as an important aspect in marriage so that we might have a more successful, loving marriage.  Lack of endurance can single handedly end a marriage but the presence of endurance can also strengthen every aspect of a marriage.  Endurance happens during the lowest points of a marriage and occurs during the everyday stresses and worries as spouses have monetary, commitment, lifestyle, and many other issues.  To acquire a stronger endurance in a marriage, a spouse just has to settle down and listen to the other talk, unloading the burdens of daily life, together.  By enduring, the other action verbs strengthen and show through the cracks, refreshing the emotions and feelings of spouses.

            Marriage will affect many of our lives in the future, and by using the action verbs of marriage now, we can prepare for a more successful marriage.  Marriage can be defined by three basic, yet complex action verbs which include sharing, loving, and enduring.  Changing these words in our lives from just being ideas and emotions to expressions and actions can really define a successful marriage.  Remember that love doesn’t just include following one’s heart but also seeing it through by remembering the times spent with that special loved one and enduring the very rocky seas that await every marriage and take place everyday.