Marriage is Ordained

I have done a lot of thinking this week about the purpose of marriage. My teenage daughter was very frustrated last night asking us why we need to get married and can’t she do as much good on her own. I explained to her what I had learned this week. We learn that marriage is ordained of God. To ordain something is to authorize by order by virtue of superior authority. This helps us to see that the ordaining of marriage is more of a commandment than good advice and that the superior authority in this case is God. She was still not content with this answer and figured she could be just as good of a person with or without marriage. I explained to her that there are many things that we simply cannot learn without the marriage covenant. Goddard explains the two purposes of marriage. 1. A refuge from the storms of life. 2. A storm where we test our balance and determination. What an interesting observation. Marriage is the storm and the refuge and I think that definition about sums it up! I really enjoy talking with my family about these great truths that I have been studying. I just pray that they will open their hearts and feel the truthfulness and have a desire to enter the temple to make covenants and receive their endowment that is waiting for them.