A New Ship Just Left the Harbor

This month a new family unit was created.  A new umbrella will shelter and protect my daughter. In essence a new marital boat with one man and one woman was just launched with all of its rights, responsibilities and powers. 

Just as George Washington and Benjamin Franklin had rules of conduct, these two wonderful young people have high standards that have governed their personal lives to this point and have determined what kind of people they have become. Now the marital boat has joint decisions to make that have a power and identity all their own. A thrilling journey begins in which they craft their ship and chart their course.

An intriguing description of Nephi's ship has application to marriage: 

And the Lord did show me from time to time after what manner I should work the timbers of the ship. Now I, Nephi, did not work the timbers after the manner which was learned by men, neither did I build the ship after the manner of men; but I did build it after the manner which the Lord had shown unto me; wherefore, it was not after the manner of men. (1 Nephi 18:1-2)

And so a marriage is not built in the world's pattern, but in God's. Among the many inspired descriptions of marriage, this is one of my favorites:

“Marriage is more than your love for each other. … In your love you see only your two selves in the world, but in marriage you are a link in the chain of the generations, which God causes to come and to pass away to his glory, and calls into his kingdom. In your love you see only the heaven of your own happiness, but in marriage you are placed at a post of responsibility towards the world and mankind. Your love is your own private possession, but marriage is more than something personal—it is a status, an office. Just as it is the crown, and not merely the will to rule, that makes the king, so it is marriage, and not merely your love for each other, that joins you together in the sight of God and man. … So love comes from you, but marriage from above, from God.” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison, ed. Eberhard Bethge (1953), 42–43.)

Oh how I cheer them on in the new boat! And like King Arthur in Camelot told Sir Tom of Warwick to "Run, run," to tell the wonderful message of the knights of the round table, I say to you, "Run, run!" While the world may parade its deceptions and disillusionment, you run with the sure faith in the marriage and family treasure. You run with the confidence in a divinely ordained marriage. You run with the knowledge that thousands cheer you now, billions from eons before and future spirits that now await. Run with the message of love, hope and joy to a world that needs your light!