Marriage Brings Happiness and Joy
President David O. McKay
“In the teachings of the Church of Christ, the family assumes supreme importance in the development of the individual and of society. ‘Happy and thrice happy are they who enjoy an uninterrupted union and whose love, unbroken by any complaints, shall not dissolve until the last day.’ It will not dissolve when a worthy couple is sealed by the authority of the Holy Priesthood throughout all eternity. The marriage ceremony when thus sealed produces happiness and joy unsurpassed by any other experience in the world” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1966, 108).
“‘How, then,’ you ask, ‘may you tell whether or not there is any consanguinity [feelings of affection], that something which will make you at least congenial in each other’s company?’ ‘Is there,’ you ask, ‘some guide?’ Though love is not always a true guide, . . . yet certainly there is no happiness without love” ( Gospel Ideals, 459).
President Spencer W. Kimball
“Honorable, happy, and successful marriage is surely the principal goal of every normal person. Marriage is perhaps the most vital of all the decisions and has the most far-reaching effects, for it has to do not only with immediate happiness, but also with eternal joys. . . .
“. . . Marriage can be more an exultant ecstasy than the human mind can conceive. This is within the reach of every couple, every person” ( “Oneness in Marriage,” Ensign, Mar. 1977, 3–4 ).
President Ezra Taft Benson
“As our family is our greatest source of joy in this life, so it may well be in the eternity” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1979, 48; or Ensign, May 1979, 33–34 ).
President Boyd K. Packer
“The ultimate purpose of all we teach is to unite parents and children in faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that they are happy at home, sealed in an eternal marriage, linked to their generations, and assured of exaltation in the presence of our Heavenly Father” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1995, 8; or Ensign, May 1995, 8 ).
Elder Boyd K. Packer
“Some marriages do bend, and some will break, but we must not, because of this, lose faith in marriage nor become afraid of it.
“Broken marriages are not typical.
“Remember that trouble attracts attention! We travel the highway with thousands of cars moving in either direction without paying much attention to any of them. But should an accident occur, we notice immediately.
“If it happens again, we get the false impression that no one can go safely down the road.
“One accident may make the front page, while a hundred million cars that safely pass are not regarded as worth mentioning.
“Writers think that a happy, stable marriage does not have the dramatic appeal, the conflict worth featuring in a book or a play or a film. Therefore, we constantly hear about the ruined ones and we lose our perspective.
“I believe in marriage. I believe it to be the ideal pattern for human living. I know it to be ordained of God. The restraints relating to it were designed to protect our happiness.
“I do not know of any better time in all of the history of the world for a young couple who are of age and prepared and who are in love to think of marriage. There is no better time because it is your time.
“I know that these are very troubled times. Troubles like we have now are very hard on marriages.
“Do not lose faith in marriage. Not even if you have been through the unhappiness of a divorce and are surrounded with pieces of a marriage that has fallen apart” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1981, 15–16; or Ensign, May 1981, 14–15 ).
Elder Bruce R. McConkie
“There is nothing in this world as important as the creation and perfection of family units” (“Salvation Is a Family Affair,” Improvement Era, June 1970, 43–44).
“The whole aim and purpose of the gospel is to enable men and women—united as one in the Lord—to create for themselves eternal family units in eternity. Celestial marriage prepares us for the greatest joy and happiness known to mortals and for eternal life in the realms ahead” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1979, 82; or Ensign, Nov. 1979, 55 ).
Elder James E. Faust
“Happiness in marriage and parenthood can exceed a thousand times any other happiness” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1977, 14; or Ensign, Nov. 1977, 11 ).
Scripture Study
Identify the principles in the following scriptures that give us insights into happiness in marriage:
Job 6:25
Proverbs 15:1
Matthew 12:34–37
1 Nephi 1:20
Alma 41:10
Doctrine and Covenants 42:22–23
;
50:28