Value of Marriage

I have been finding it so interesting as I learn more in class about the studies on the family, how things we are taught in the gospel relate to the studies taken from families of the world. Heavenly Father truly does know what will make us happy and what we need to do to have successful families. Marriage/family is central to His plan. It seems from what we see in the world today, marriage is not something that is as highly valued as it used to be and as a result the family is breaking down in society. I feel we are greatly affected by the cultures of our society as we talked about in class. It seems that the new norm is to have kids first then get married later, if at all. Studies show that those who get have children first and get married later vs. those who do it the proper way are more likely to get divorces and it ultimately creates a vicious cycle of a lack of value on marriage and more people getting divorced, which then begins to affect our society in a number of ways. As we talked about economic classes as well and how that can affect our families I also thought about how more focus seems to be on getting an education, making more money and establishing ourselves finacially vs. on the family. I feel many people fall into this because of the way our society is and it is the very reason my parents ended up in divorce. They wanted the nice cars, beautiful large home and to be able to go on lavish trips. What ended up happening was they began to focus more on gaining and money than on nurturing and strengthening our family. As a result they eneded up not only having to claim bankrupcy but loosing their marriage and family as well. It really all goes back to the family and having that sense of the value and importance of marriage. Its no wonder we are taught so much in the gospel about the importance of families. I feel that what weve discussed about cultural and economic classes and their impact on the family, vice versa and the cycles that result is really evident in the proclomation to the family where the prophets state "We warn that individuals who violate covenants of chastity, who abuse spouse or offspring, or who fail to fulfill family responsibilities will one day stand accountable before God. Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.We call upon responsible citizens and officers of government everywhere to promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society." It really all comes together and I feel the studies truly support this knowledge and as we take it back to the family and value marriage as it should be valued we would have alot more unity and success as a society.