FROM THE EDITORS January 14, 2008 Issue

MARRIAGE—WHAT UNITES AND WHAT DIVIDES?

MOST PEOPLE WOULD AGREE that a good marriage takes work. A quick Google search on the topic brings up many sites that offer advice for the engaged and newlyweds, as well as the seasoned married couple. These sites seem to share one common theme: Sticking together and making your marriage work isn't always a cakewalk. One online poll posed the question, "Would you marry your spouse again?" Out of over 4,000 responders, 45 percent answered "no," while 35 percent said "yes" and the other 18 percent were undecided with a mere I percent already remarried to their spouse. Perhaps this points to why nearly half of those saying "I do" today—with the United States leading the pack—end their unions in divorce.

The founder of this magazine was herself married three times. Mary Baker Eddy endured the loss of her first husband to illness, the adultery and desertion of her second, and in later life experienced the strong and supportive partnership of her third. One can only surmise that through these experiences, she gained firsthand wisdom on the topic. In answer to the question, "What do you think of marriage?" she responded: "That it is often convenient, sometimes pleasant, and occasionally a love affair. Marriage is susceptible of many definitions. It sometimes presents the most wretched condition of human existence." And then she went on to state the ideal for marriage, that "to be normal, it must be a union of the affections that tends to lift mortals higher" (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, p. 52).

What is it that unites the affections and lifts one higher? You could say that the answer to this question describes the very purpose of the Sentinel itself—to lift hearts and lives higher so that healing and transformation can take place. When God, whom we can think of as divine Love, anchors one's life and affections, spiritual growth naturally follows, and our lives bless the world and those we meet. Marriage is one important place that tests the proof of this affection. It demands the practice of such basic Christian principles as loving another as yourself, maintaining a singleness of heart, offering to your partner an unselfish devotion and pure affection. Mrs. Eddy, in a chapter devoted to Marriage in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, observed, "There should be the most tender solicitude for each other's happiness, and mutual attention and approbation should wait on all the years of married life" (p. 59).