Marriages do not work out as we expect them to do because of the gap between the ideal and the strength and sacrifice needed to realise it. This is very much missing today in the fast food and utilitarian culture imported largely from the West. But the Divine is always willing to help us realise the Ideal. He is not the spoilsport to our happiness but the helper and guide and it is only rarely that he does not grant a sincere prayer, and only when He sees the harm that may accrue through it. The reason why relationships end up badly is not God but our incapacity to love. A love full of demands, expectations, wishes and desires based on the need for pleasure or happiness is not so much love but emotional and vital hunger. So too a love calculating gain and loss is a business and a marriage based on social benefits is a transaction. These are as good as failures even if it succeeds by outer standards. So grow in love and try to make it beautiful and sincere. That is all that is needed.

I sometimes feel deep guilt or sadness about my past relationships. A few men in my life chose not to marry after our relationships ended and have said that they would only have married me. I am now happily married to someone else, but I sometimes wonder whether my presence in their lives prevented them from moving on, finding love, or living life fully. I am no longer in contact with them, but I hear these things through mutual friends. 😥🌹[…]
The decision to get married or live with someone is a serious one, especially marraige. It cannot be taken based on promises made during a state of emotion. The whole idea of …

