The best is yet to come...

I am truly grateful for my eternal marriage to my one true love.

Last week we nearly lost it. It began several weeks ago when we stopped doing the little things... a kiss on the cheek, a kind word spoken when the other has done something nice, a smile, encouragement.... Next, we stopped praying together and reading our scriptures together....Then it progressed to selfishness, we both thought that we were right and we were unwilling to see the other person's point of view on any issue...It then progressed to the inability to compromise, and led to arguments that left both of us feeling angry.... Then I withdrew to do my own thing and he withdrew into his electronics, we avoided each other so that we would not have to argue. As we did so, we both began to see all the little things that the other had done as personal offenses.

We had lost our eternal perspective. Satan had led us away carefully, making us believe that we were being wronged and that the other was no longer worth our time. We had lost sight of our goal to be an eternal family and had started to focus on things that really don't matter in the grand scheme of things.

Thank GOD for the Temple. My grandmother agreed to drive us to the Temple and watch our son while we went in to try and rescue our foundering marriage. We were able to remember our sacred covenants, the promises that we made to God and to each other. We were able to leave behind all the silly arguments and hurt feelings, and focus on what really mattered.

In the Doctrine and Covenants 121:7, God spoke to Joseph Smith while he was incarcerated at Liberty Jail and He said: "Peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment." Joseph Smith endured tarring and feathering, the death of his young children, friends betraying him, persecution till he was murdered by a mob, and many other things... and God tells him that he should have peace... that all of these woes would be but a small moment. And here we were, about to throw away our eternal marriage because of some perceived offenses, a few paltry arguments that we wont even remember six months from now....

That hour we spent in the Temple was healing. We saw each other for the eternal people we truly are. All those offenses, annoyances, arguments... they don't really matter. All we will be able to take with us when we leave this world is our knowledge and our relationships. We have resolved to always remember this.

That is not to say that we will never argue again. That we will never have disagreements or hurt eachother's feelings. That we will never speak in anger to each other again... that is life, the human condition prevents us from being perfect.... but we will always remember that we have something bigger than ourselves to work for, to strive for, to become better people for.... and we have to do it together.

During General Conference this weekend, we heard that "The best is yet to come..." no matter how much we have to deal with in this life, there is an eternal goal to work for.... if we can keep that perspective, when the rains come and the torrential winds beat about us, when Satan tempts us, when we feel like there is nothing to work for.... we can look to that as a comfort and have peace to our souls and know that the best is yet to come....