Understand what marriage is.
Wherever we look, marriage appears to be in trouble, and many young people are growing up in a home where the example of a happy and faithful marriage does not exist. This can make it hard to look forward to marriage and perhaps even harder to know how to live happily as a married person.
Marriage is a relationship that was given to us by God at the beginning of time, something that is designed to be a lifelong commitment between a man and a woman based on attraction and love, and offering security to children in the next generation and even beyond.
Marriage is when two become one, not when two remain two. When a couple marry they are committing themselves to love each other unconditionally for the whole of their lives.
Marriage is important because it supports love. If there are times in a relationship when circumstances are difficult and the feelings of love are not as strong as at other times, the commitment of marriage supports the married couple through those difficult times. Watch this clip for an example – marriage is much more than a piece of paper!
Prepare for marriage at an early age
A lot of young people would like to be happily married in the end, but think that they can have many sexual relationships with different people and then one day just get married and settle down and live happily ever after. The problem is that old habits die hard and it does not always work out like that. We will give our marriages a much better chance of success if we remain physically pure and save sexual intimacy for the person we will marry. It is also important to have thought about what marriage is and prepared ourselves for sharing life (literally everything) with another person.
Boys should work hard to gain skills and wisdom to help them provide for and lead a family in the future. They must respect their parents, learn to take responsibility and above all have self control over their developing sexual desires. Girls can also learn to work hard and develop skills which will be useful in the home as well as outside. A girl should learn to submit to her parents, to be modest but still attractive, and to guard her emotions until she is sure she has met a young man who truly loves and respects her.
Here are some qualities to develop which will help sustain a faithful and fulfilling marriage..
Generosity
Kindness
faithfulness
Sacrificial love
Hard work
Patience
Perseverance
Ability to forgive
