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Marriage & Love

A few years ago there was a Valentine's Day article in my local paper about a couple who had been married 80 some years. 80 years! And they didn't celebrate Valentine's Day. She was around 13 and he was around 17 when they got married and they were still together 80 years later.

This is the exception to the rule.

It's hard to find good information on teen marriage. Most marriage manuals are for older couples, understandably. In fact, most people totally recommend against teens getting married at all. Wait until you're older, they say. And generally speaking, they're right.

Most teenagers who get married will get divorced. (This is especially true for those who have lived together first.) The divorce rate for teens is around the 60% mark - really, that's not as bad as you'd think considering the rate for older couples is just slightly lower at around 50%. Still, the odds are not in favor of younger couples.

As a veteran of one bad marriage and divorce, I can attest to the truth of the statistics. But, I also know several couples who started out in their teens and are still together 20, 30, 45 years later.

"So what makes the difference?" you ask. (Or you didn't, but since I can't hear you, I get to assume my way. ;)

Well, what makes the difference in any marriage?

Commitment. Family support. Perseverance. Choice. Maturity. Fidelity. Compassion.

Love in action.

A successful marriage takes two committed people who are willing to love, live, grow, and work together through the hard times and the good. These two people can start out as teenagers, but they usually don't.

So, do you two really have what it takes to fight the odds?

The Kind Of Love That Lasts:
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails... When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me...And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."
  1 Corinthians 13:4-13