Have Patience and Communicate

This week I would like to emphasis the important of spouses working together and strengthening each other as they become united as one. It is important in marriage to treat each other as equal partners, as someone that the other can trust in and always turn to for love and support. The prophets and apostles serve as wonderful examples of how to have meaningful marital relationship. In an interview by the church magazines the following took place: 

“Church magazines: President, you have said:
“Some husbands regard it as their prerogative to compel their wives to fit their standards of what they think to be the ideal. It never works.” How have you avoided doing this with Sister Hinckley? President Hinckley: I’ve tried to recognize my wife’s individuality, her personality, her desires, her background, her ambitions. Let her fly. Yes, let her fly! Let her develop her own talents. Let her do things her way. Get out of her way, and marvel at what she does…If there is anything that concerns me, it is that some men try to run their wife’s life and tell her everything she ought to do. It will not work. There will not be happiness in the lives of the children nor of the parents where the man tries to run everything and control his wife. They are partners. They are companions in this great venture that we call marriage and family life (Marjorie Pay and Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign, October 2003, pp. 22, 27).”

It is beautiful to see the interaction between President Hinkley and his sweet wife. Luckily I had a great example of what a marital relationship should be like from my parents. My mom and dad are very loving and devoted toward one another and always have been for as long as I can remember. This week I got the opportunity to interview them and ask them for advice to help me remain close to my husband, even when children come into the picture.

The two greatest principles that my parents shared with me were patience and communication. Getting married and then having children are huge life changing factors. It is essential that these changes are faced with patience and worked through with open communication. With these principles and love it is possible for us to have relationships like President Hinkley and His wife had while in mortality.

My parents and my sister on her baptism day

Resources: Personal Interview with Roger and Jennifer Smith 

Richard B. Miller, "Who is the Boss? Power Relationships in Families." BYU Conference on Family Life, Brigham Young University, March 28, 2009.