Will you be mine?

We recently had stake conference. As part of this, the bishops of our stake and their wives had the opportunity to meet before the Sunday morning session with our visiting authority, Elder Gavarret. This was the first time we had a meeting like this. What did we do at this meeting? Well I'm glad you asked. First, the wives introduced the couple and shared a little about our families. The husbands were then asked to share one thing that they most admired about their wives.

Elder Gavarret then went on to instruct us on how important it is to take care of our marriage. He stated that Satan is working especially hard on destroying our marriage. In his Uruguay slanted English. he stated the reason was because if he can destroy our marriage it will effect the whole ward.

I was reminded of a bishop I had growing up who made some wrong choices. He choose to be unfaithful in his marriage. There was a lot of great things this man did but when I  think of this bishop I can never forget this fact as well. Unfortunately, I also know of some who's opinion of the LDS church were effected by his actions.

When my husband was first called as bishop, I was again reminded of this bishop. For awhile my ears where especially tuned to any mention of couples who had split up or had marital problems and the husband had served as a bishop. While I trusted my husband, I was surprised how aware I was of this. Was it a subconscious fear of mine?   As I listened to Elder Gavarret, I realized that this was Satan working against our marriage. I also saw what he meant by "it will effect the whole ward" 

Throughout the past few years, while my husband has been serving as a bishop, we have had times where looking back you could say Satan was working against us.  I'm not stating we have had or are having problems. In fact things are great! There have just been times we needed to step back and make sure we are taking time for each other. We are thinking about each others needs first and that we are communicating. This is taking care of our marriage.

This is not just the case of bishops. It is the same for all of us. We all have times where life brings stress. Maybe it's a new baby, new job, one of you goes back to school, a new calling, dealing with a teenager, becoming empty nesters, retirement. It is during these times we need to make sure we are taking care of our marriage. Satan seizes on any opportunity he can for he knows any marriage he can destroy will have far reaching effects.

I was grateful for this recent reminder. On this upcoming Valentines Day, I hope to remember that it is more than just this day that we need to take time for the one we have chosen to be our Valentine. It is everyday,and most especially when life is tough, that we need to remember when we said, "I do" it was a pact that should last for eternity.