Some words of experience and wisdom

I’ve been thinking about “the pursuit of happiness” and the way we want the same things out of marriage that people of all religious (and non-religous) stripes do, and how there’s something we’re missing in all this. And then I clicked on a link to a piece by Leticia Adams, and there it was, already said for me, in Marriage is Not a Fairy Tale:

The common thing that I see among believers and unbelievers is the need to avoid pain. It’s what motivates people. “Happiness” is the carrot that is hung in front of us and the way to get “happiness” is to avoid pain. That is the trick of the devil. The only way to happiness is through pain, it is through resurrection, after the worst pain that life really begins. That belief is the center of our faith. That includes our life, our conversions, our marriages, our bodies, our relationship with Jesus, our friendships and everything else. Nothing can become holy without pain, death and resurrection. The more we avoid that fact the more we reject a Christ who was crucified, died, was buried and rose from the dead.

There’s more, all of it good stuff. Go take a look!