With today's article, I feel the need to reaffirm all that is good in marriage, and remind our readers that even if your marriage isn't perfect, and none are, congratulations on continuing to keep the home fires burning.

The War On Families

The institution of marriage has been under fire for some time now, and it is often made a mockery of by "alternative lifestyles". Recently, someone has even gone so far as to marry a dolphin.

So I applaud you for enduring well in your marriage vows and truly being committed to what is not only best for you and your family, but society.

Study after study has shown that the strength of the community is found in the strength of it's families. So when you choose to marry and stay together through the growing pains of marriage, you not only help yourself, and your family, you are impacting your community.

Married Couples Are In The Majority

The good news...the majority of people value marriage as well. In a recent survey on our MarriageAdvice website, 60% of the respondents would rather try and work through marital problems, even if that included infidelity, than choose divorce.

Studies also show that marriages are often made stronger following counseling, counseling that would not have occurred were it not for the infidelity.

That doesn't mean that you will strengthen your marriage by committing adultery. However, it does confirm the idea that there are ripples of underlying marital strife when a spouse goes astray. Thus, it's important to address these issues while they are minor.

With that said, it's time that we pat one another on the back and recognize that in spite of the attacks on the family unit, we will win both the battle and the war on families.

So keep heart, and when you may have big questions as to why you're married to your spouse, take a moment to remember the many wonderful things you loved about them when you first met.

Try and look at the qualities they possess as you first viewed them when dating. For example, do you remember their confidence, that you may now classify as "stubborn." Or their generosity that you may now classify as "buying your love."

Take a step back and really look at their intentions, and you will discover that they're still the same person who you fell in love with, but you both have evolved. So view their qualities/weakness with a kind heart and you'll soon discover they will view you the same way and your love will deepen.

Look to those positive attributes and you will discover they are still there. Soon you'll find that those "big concerns" really aren't so big after all. Perspective is a wonderful thing, if we'll just take a moment to view our marriage from the big picture. Then we will see how powerful that memory is in keeping our hearts turned to the things of greatest worth, our spouse and family.