Love Conquers All

Why aren't you married? Do you know of someone who is keeping from taking that step towards marriage? We wanted to know why and so we asked our guest today, Director of Marriage at Focus on The Family, Mitch Temple. Mitch puts it down to fear. Fearful that the knot they tie becomes undone. Fearful that it wouldn't work out.

There's good reason to be concerned with staggering figures indicating that about one in two marriages in the West end up in divorce. In Singapore, we're not too far behind with one in three marriages breaking down. If it's so easy to fall into love, it looks like it's just as easy falling out of love! No wonder there are some among us who'd rather play it safe. Even celebrity couples (who many an impressionable mind look to as people they aspire to become or are simply bowled over by) are parting ways. Not exactly the role models we want for keeping the family unit intact.

Listeners today needed a reminder that perfect marriages don't exist. If they did, you'd be suspicious if these unions were between human beings rather than robots. We're emotional beings; we're reactive, we're inconsistent with own selves, what more our relations with others! Just like a steaming mug of coffee in the morning, we don't stay hot all day long.

What takeaway is there for couples in love but standing along the aisle rather than walking on it? That marriage is a journey. It's WIP (work-in-progress) rather than a destination or state like an RIP (rest-in-peace). There is still purpose and place for marriage and much benefits to be reaped for the individual and the couple who've sworn their lives to each other.

Co-habitation is for those who live in fear of commitment, who live with a myopic view of taking each step as it comes into view rather than a long-term vision of paving the road to an amazing journey like no other.

Marriage needs work and there are seasons according to Mitch's wife Rhonda. It needs patience. It needs respect. It needs to be given a chance to prove that marriage can indeed be sustained and enduring.

Mitch & Rhonda Temple speak at Marriage Convention 2009
this weekend! Tickets now selling at SISTIC!