Oh Readers,

What a thought!  I can only express what I see and I must warn you, what I see is a very scary sight indeed. 

The family is being cruelly ripped apart.  Limb by limb, bone by bone until there is nothing left but bitter ashes; piles and piles of bitter, sad, lonely ashes.  I dearly hope that those of you lovely readers reading this unfortunate post have not been faced with such a trial.  But if so, can you not agree?  In the end, can you not agree?

It always begins on a scary night when the devil roams free.  One wondering individual seeks out who he or she is.  They feel lost and hopeless.  He seeks them out – the weak, and takes them under his wing with the promise of reward and pleasure. 

Forget what you have been taught, what you have learned, and most importantly, forget what you have felt, he tells them.  You are not having fun; you are miserable and sad.  There is only one way to fix such loneliness.  

And he proceeds to drag them farther and farther away from the beautiful life they have created with another. 

The happiness once shared amongst couples has now faded into gray and any thought of color seems to be over looked as if just another trial passing them by.  The world outside the home is entirely a new playground waiting to be played on.  There are no rules, no curfews, and certainly nothing to stop them.  No longer do the children bring joy to the soul of the one being carried away.  Nothing those wonderful kids do will stop the devil from taking the parent(s) if they are not willing to change.

Not only can I imagine this scenario but also I am faced with it.  My experience is less dramatic and not entirely to tale with the described above, but something of the sort is happening nonetheless.  I see the change the devil has brought though the circumstances under which the adult is faced are not quite clear.  Who knows what has really been going on but the Lord.  Even the devil doesn’t know.  Why?  Because as he is taking the soul away, he refuses to see the good of the soul and creates the bad of it.  Every story rolls together, that’s why this story seems so familiar; it’s what always happens.  Though none can blame them when they lived such a wonderful life to be just giving up all hope that anything would ever change.

But I come bearing good news!  It is not all dark and dreary in such a married life.  Spark can still be found in the simplest of places.  Colors don’t need to fade if only the couple remembers to bring their crayons.  Find the hope that lies within each heart that love is more than just a temporary state of feeling.  Love lasts longer than both you and I can comprehend.  It fills time with meaning and understanding.  It takes all of those hard times and finds the lesson to be learned.  It keeps an aging couple strong.

FFN (Future Family Note)

Don’t give up so easily.  The work is always worth the prize.

**Gordon B. Hinckley

There cannot be peace where there is not trust; there cannot be freedom where there is not loyalty (Conference Report, Oct. 1970, 66).

A happy marriage is not so much a matter of romance as it is an anxious concern for the comfort and well-being of one’s companion (Ensign, May 1991).

Marriage, in its truest sense, is a partnership of equals, with neither exercising dominion over the other, but, rather, with each encouraging and assisting the other in whatever responsibilities and aspirations he or she might have (Ensign, Aug. 1992, 6).