Working on a Latter-day Saint Marriage

What does love mean in a Latter-day Saint relationship?

Because we believe in an eternal covenant of marriage, love means being true to our spouse not only after we make that covenant with him or her, but it means being faithful and practicing fidelity before we ever even meet.

Because we believe that we are literally the sons and daughters of God, and we believe that our bodies are gifts from him and tabernacles for our spiritual bodies and also for the Holy Ghost, we would never want to do anything to violate the law of chastity, which would mean that we are violating ourselves and those who we take advantage of outside of a marriage covenant.

Because we believe that a marriage should last forever, we do not believe that courtship should ever end. In fact, the leaders of the church recommend a weekly date night. On top of that, a weekly family night should also be in place to help develop and maintain the integrity of the family unit.

Because we believe that we are accountable to God and that our marriage covenant is a three-way covenant, we include God in the decisions that we make, and we act as equal partners in both our marriage and the rearing of our children. Because we believe we are children of God, we think that it is inappropriate to be sarcastic or cutting to each other; and we feel that it is expected for each of us to be supportive and cooperative to each other’s desires, needs, and wants. We strive not only to be our best selves, but to help each other be his or her best self. There is not room for competition, envy, and malice within a Latter-day Saint marriage.

Because we literally believe that we are to become like our Heavenly Father through faith and obedience and that we can become joint-heirs with Christ, and because we truly believe that the man is not without the woman nor the woman without the man in the Lord, we work diligently to be one in purpose, one in testimony, and one in our path to happiness.

Quick thoughts here for a friend who is gathering information. If you have any other thoughts, please comment. Thanks.