President Ezra Taft Benson, the 13th Prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, stated, "In order to learn the law of consecration, you must first learn to live the law of the Lord."
Now we ask ourselves, how is this done? How can this teaching help turn our marriage from the natural to the divine? There are six steps that we can work on to reach that perfect, yet challenging stage of consecration:
1. Obedience
2. Sacrifice
3. Compromise: It's not easy - it's challenging to sacrifice what we have in order to create something new; something beautiful. Marriage requires an infinite amount of work - how much are we willing to put in?
4. Repentance/Forgiveness
5. Chastity
6. Consecration: You need to give EVERYTHING you have to become one with another person - it's a cheap move not to - put EVERYTHING you have on the altar.
Once we've reached consecration, how can we keep that act of complete and total service in our lives?
1. Invest what you want into the marriage:
- Be invested, not vested
- IMMERSE yourself in it
- THROW yourself into it
2. "Great unselfishness comes in marriage"
- We need to learn to think of someone else when making decisions...marriage isn't a one-way street.
- We need to learn to care about something our significant other loves just as much as they do.
- It's not natural, it's divine
3. "Complete living of the commandment"
- The commandments act as a formula to help guide our lives.
- When we are living the commandments and our spouse is living the commandments, there's no where to move but closer to God.
- Despite what many may say about the "restrictions" that the commandments puts on our lives, they actually bless marriage in more ways then one. Why not follow some principles that can help build your marriage towards eternity?
4. "Pinnacle of perfection in those areas that matter most"
- Just like with compromising, we needs to reformulate what matters the most.
5. "Continued courtship"
- I haven't seen all of the movie "Date Night, " but the one part I did see just amazed me. It was a Friday night and their babysitter showed up and said, "Aren't you guys going on your date?" What an inspiring example. How great it is for children to see their parents going on dates!
- It allows two people who love each other to talk without any outside distractions. It's okay to want/have time away from your children.
- It gives you the opportunity to remember why you fell in love - it's a rekindling experience.
- You can more fully express love and attention for your spouse.
How beautiful a marriage must be when this much effort is put into it! We should look forward to the opportunity to give all that we have in exchange for anothers love and eternity.
Avec Amour,
Elisse
So great!
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