Sedley Crooks-Hessing, Contributor
Peta-Gaye and Keithroy Green at their ceremony on June 18 at the Emmanuel Apostolic Church in Moneague, St. Ann. Officiating minister was Bishop Clovis Tracey and the reception was held at the Moneague College. The couple honeymooned at Sandals Ocho Rios. - CONTRIBUTED PHOTOGRAPH
Marriage is challenging but it can also be a wonderful, exciting, and beautiful experience.
Here are a few reasons to get married:
1: A life lived alone is not truly being fulfilled. This is not to say that a single person cannot live a fulfilled life. If singles reach out to others in an unselfish way their lives can be fulfilling, although it would still be less than the best possible.
2: Legal sex. Sex within the bond of marriage, and restricted there to, is respectful and lawful. It is a first line of respect, and mutual respect is one of the chief lines that support and maintain any successful marriage.
3: There is also the desire to mutually enjoy each other and share in each other's joys and sorrows. This includes the difficulty of mutual adjustment and mutual submission - a willingness for each party to give and take, and a profound commitment to the relationship.
4: Another reason is the desire to be personally responsible for someone who is also personally responsible for you. Parents and relatives are no longer first in your line of responsibility and they are not first in the line of responsibility for you.
5: Procreation. Couples want to see how their combination looks. This also involves caring for one's offspring, protecting them and giving them the support to become worthwhile citizens.
6: The quality of sheer love and bonding that is possible and that can be experienced in marriage cannot be ignored. This is the case when both partners consider all they possess as belonging to the other, including belonging to each other. It involves sharing each other's joys and sorrows, cares and concerns and the desire to make each other as comfortable as possible.
Newlyweds, as you embark on this wonderful and blessed adventure of holy matrimony, there are some ingredients that are indispensable to its success. These include mutual respect; commitment - standing by and caring for each other; being willing to seek and give forgiveness; and complimenting each other instead of competing against each other.
It might sound impossible, but if you seek help from the eternal source of all good, you will realise that it is very much possible.
Have a prosperous journey together.
