Marriage Monday: Mutual Toleration

When I first headed off to college I started studying for my degree in Marriage and Family studies I thought the only route to take was continuing on to be a therapist. After taking a couple of intro therapy classes I decided if I were to make it my lifelong education I just wouldn't be happy dealing with so much negativity all day. (*While it wasn't the right study area for me, I still feel like it's an incredible profession and one that I think more consumers should take advantage of.)

Luckily for me I had awesome professors and classes that I enjoyed and I found instead some fun research based studies to participate in and decided to steer my studies towards a Marriage Enrichment focus.

The other day I was admiring my shelfs of wonderful books and material on marriage education and thought it'd be fun to share what I'm passionate about with all of you. It may or may not be occurring once a week.

So . . . introducing my very own Marriage Monday. To start us off here is a great quote.

"There seems to be a superstition among many thousands of our young who hold hands and smooch in the drive-ins that marriage is a cottage surrounded by perpetual hollyhocks, to which a perpetually young and handsome husband comes home to a perpetually young and ravishing wife. When the hollyhocks wither and boredom and bills appear, the divorce courts are jammed.

Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he's been robbed. The fact is that most putts don't drop. Most beef is tough. Most children grow up to be just ordinary people. Most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration. Most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. . . .

Life is like an old-time rail journey--delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride."

--Jenkin Lloyd Jones, newspaper columnist

I love this quote and hope that it reminds us of the positives more than negatives.

I hope that it helps us understand that it's a choice (yours to be specific) to be happy and experience the joy in life (in marriage, in your job, in your friendships, in your family).

I hope that it reminds us all to be grateful for what we do have.

I hope that it inspires us to want to strive for that higher degree of mutual toleration.

What are your thoughts about what Jenkin Lloyd Jones had to say?

You can find my other Marriage Monday's here.