Doherty says it best: "I began to see how being 'intentional' about family life through family rituals [is] the best antidote to the drift of contemporary family life toward less closeness, less meaning and less community. The world is not a friendly place for families these days, and those who lack a plan for their survival and growth are apt to be casualties." Stephen Covey in his book 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families expounds upon this notion stating that in marriage and family relationships if we are not consistently "depositing" into the accounts of physical, spiritual, social/emotional & mental wellness, we will not even maintain the current level of wellness in the relationship. In the campus-wide devotional last week, we were reminded that "all meaningful relationships require great work and effort."

Is it really possible to attain the ideal amid the contemporary plagues of pornography, divorce, infidelity, abortion, non-commitment, and all the other attacks on family life? Yes. Not because I know first hand, or have seen it in my family of origin, but because God has commanded, and ordained marriage--a covenant relationship--between man, wife & God, and I, like the Book of Mormon prophet Nephi, "KNOW (emphasis added) that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." Nephi Chapter 3 I know that God has given us the resources to combat all the influences of evil around us, both real and perceived. This doesn't mean that it will be easy, or that we won't have occasion to ask why it is so difficult, it does; however, mean that the ultimate joy and fulfilment resultant from the ideals in marriage and family life are not only possible but that the Lord has provided a way whereby we may accomplish these things. As the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ state in The Proclamation to the World: The Family, "happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities."The Proclamation to the World