“We cannot have our eyes on our partner and ourselves at the same time.”

“If all mankind would live in strict obedience to the gospel, and in that love which is begotten by the Spirit of the Lord, all marriages would be eternal; divorce would be unknown. Divorce is not part of the gospel plan and has been introduced because of the hardness of heart and unbelief of the people…There never could be a divorce in the Church if the husband and wife were keeping the commandments of God.” –President Joseph Fielding Smith

You do not have to be of the LDS church for this quote to mean something to you. I’ll even venture to say that no matter what your religion or faith is, this quote can apply to your marriage. President Joseph Fielding Smith was one of the prophets of the LDS church when he was alive; He was God’s prophet and mouthpiece. In an earlier blog post I mentioned that marriage is of God, it is not something that man created. That being said, this quote speaks nothing but truth. It is powerful yet simple. We are told that if we simply keep the commandments and love our spouse then our marriage will last not only in this life but throughout the eternities. That is possibly the most beautiful thing that I have heard. There is nothing more that I want than for Jake and I to be husband and wife forever.

While not everyone is religious, everyone can still strive for one of the two prerequisites for an eternal marriage- love. In his book Drawing Heaven into your Marriage, H. Wallace Goddard says, “We cannot have our eyes on our partner and ourselves at the same time.” This is one simple statement to remember when we are trying to better love our spouse. We cannot be constantly thinking about ourselves and expect to gain a greater love for our spouse. If we want our marriage to last then we need to forget about ourselves and think about how we can better serve and nurture our spouse.