by Kelly Ismail

Created on: December 05, 2008   Last Updated: November 30, 2011

Marriage is a commitment. When you take your vows you are committing your love to the other person. You are making a promise to love your spouse for better for worse, for richer and poorer, and in sickness and in health. Many couples walk into marriage, thinking that everything is going to be perfect and rosy all the time. Sometimes I don't think they really listened to the words they said when they took their vows.

A lot of people say that the foundation for a good marriage is love, honesty, and respect. That is true but to build a strong marriage is like building a house. The foundation is set but when building a house you have to have walls and a roof. In order to keep a marriage strong you have to have more than just the foundation. Everyday you are working to make it stronger. Everyday you add a brick so that you are building a strong house.

The bricks of this house you build for your marriage is made up of the things that you strive to keep strong. Those bricks are understanding, compassion, compromise, love, truth, honesty, endurance, strength, respect, and many of the values that you share with your spouse. Marriages don't just all apart over night, they start getting torn down over time. Bricks start being removed and then the marriage is brought down to the foundation. When the foundation crumbles , the house is no good.

Love is something that builds everyday. In a good solid marriage, you love your spouse more than you did when you married them, more than you did a week ago, and more than you did yesterday. The same is true with respect. Some bricks like these are easy to lay on the foundation of your marriage.

The true challenge of keeping a marriage strong and laying more bricks on the foundation are the times when things are rough. No marriage is perfect and there are times when you are fighting and struggling to be understanding, to find strengthen and compassion. To add those bricks your marriage has to be strong. And sometimes those bricks in your marriage maybe the hardest to add to the house, but they are the ones that are the strongest and biggest bricks. They are the ones you remember down the road. They are the ones that remind you when you struggled and they are the ones that remind you how strong your marriage is.

The thing about keeping a marriage strong is remembering the vows you took. A lot of marriage houses crumble and fall because they don't work to make the house more than just a foundation. They don't fight hard enough when the times are rough, when things seems like they are the worst. They don't except the challenges and the bubble bursts on their idea that their marriage is a perfect union.

A strong marriage is a marriage that thrives on all that it has built and continues to build, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, and in sickness and health.

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