Celebrations of Marriage and Romance – The Right Fit
The definition of marriage is the condition of being married; wedlock. One definition of married is a close or intimate union. When I looked up intimate, I found nothing attaching it to love, it is only attached to marriage. Accordingly, we don’t need to be in love to choose to marry.
On the other hand, romance is defined as a love affair. Since marriage doesn’t refer to love, does marriage end the love affair? Who should decide who can be part of a union? Does it offer security? Does it offer health? Does it offer tax breaks? Does the marriage, in and of itself, create that close or intimate union? Why does marriage exist in the first place?
Perhaps we marry to make our family, close friends and church happy. Taxes are a consideration (yet, seniors can be financially hurt by tax laws). The desire for childbirth, deemed only appropriate within wedlock by some. Or, if you have found your one true love, you can’t imagine not wearing a ring, as an outward sign of your commitment to that love.
Divorce statistics prove the act of marriage doesn’t create love. If romance is a love affair, it should have existed prior to marriage, and could sustain the union. Does the ring change the affair? Just what is the reason for marriage if we are already in a love affair?
How is a love affair improved by reciting vows and slipping on wedding rings, in front of close ones? Does that celebration change the love shared? Perhaps it does. Each individual has to answer that question. If you are married, do you celebrate your love for each other every day? How do you celebrate? Do you think it is right for anyone to decide how love is celebrated, including who can or can‘t be married? Why do we unite or separate humankind at all?
Why does an authority pronounce a couple married or denounce the marriage? Does the authority know if the couple is in love when the marriage is blessed? How can an authority know, better than the couple, how to end a marriage? These questions are private between the partners, no matter who they are. To me, anyone outside of the union should not decide the fit. Does someone decide what shoes fit you best or walk in them?
Jill A. Reed
Love Tips Guru
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