MARRIED PEOPLE NEED FRIENDS

The University of Chicago conducted a study where they found that couples that stayed together through adversity had friends who wanted them to stay together and who had a low opinion of divorce. By contrast, married people who spend time with divorced and bitter people tend to divorce at a higher rate.

I conducted a wedding ceremony yesterday. Most of those in the audience were not Christians, but I exhorted them on their role in the ceremony. I told them that they were more than just an audience. They were witnesses. And they held in their hands the ability to make or break this marriage. If they made it their mission to strengthen the marriage of their friends--to build this couple up and stress the importance of being faithful to each other--they could insure their friends against divorce.

And that true of you as well. You (especially because you are a Christian) can be a source of strength to married people by stressing the positives of marriage to them.