Article August 25, 1980 Issue

Foundation for marriage

MARK WILLIAM HENDRICKSON

Christ Jesus' parable of the two houses—the one built on sand and crumbling under stress, the other solidly based "upon a rock,"^{Matt. 7:24;} thereby withstanding the storm—well illustrates why some marriages last and others dissolve. Some collapse like the first house because they were not founded on a secure spiritual basis. In answering the question "What do you think of marriage?" Mrs. Eddy said, "That it is often convenient, sometimes pleasant, and occasionally a love affair."^{Miscellaneous Writings, p. 52;} If we judge by the high divorce rate in many countries, we might say that being "convenient" or "pleasant" or even "a love affair" is not sufficient to hold a marriage together. These are wobbly foundations, indeed.

What are some factors that contribute to a solid foundation? Gratitude, for one. We can be grateful that since God is the perfect creator of all, His individualized reflections are complete and whole. Because the universe is ordered by divine Principle, nothing vital to man, whether completeness, health, or supply, can be left out or misplaced. Soul eternally and impartially expresses joy, love, and satisfaction in all its children. Divine Life and its idea, man, are fulfilling and fulfilled now, and no human evidence can annul that spiritual fact.

God's reflection includes the full spectrum of spiritual qualities, both the ones humanly categorized as male and those thought of as female. The Bible records that our Father-Mother God created man "male and female"^{Gen. 1:27;} in the divine image. The realization that the qualities one desires to companion with are already present in his consciousness and can be expressed at any time, opens the way to the demonstration of completeness—sometimes with, sometimes without, another person. Certainly it annihilates the lie "I don't understand men (or women)" by lifting us above limiting stereotypes of "masculine" and "feminine" to a normal, mutual understanding based on spiritual identity.