Invest in your eternal marriage

So today I spoke in sacrament meeting.  Since I am in the bishopric, I was asked to speak about our ward motto for the year, "Invest in your eternal marriage".  I felt like for my post today I would regurgitate my talk.

Anyone that knows me (which should be everyone that is reading this blog) knows that I love languages, words, roots, and especially etymologies.  So obviously I began my talk by pointing out that the original meaning of the word "invest" is "to cloth in the official robes of an office."  I like this because the Spanish word for the temple garment and endowment is "investidura."  If you remember, on my mission I received a "fully invested" BYU shirt, which was when I first made this connection.  Anyways, I think it is significant to realize that if the Lord has invested so much power and knowledge in us, we should invest in ourselves and in our marriage.  The type of investment that we are talking about are the righteous routines of scripture study and prayer as a couple, FHE, etc.

The idea of continous spiritual investments has been spoken of by general authorities.  President Heber J Grant once said,  "What are we working for? Wealth? Riches? If we have embraced the gospel of Jesus Christ, then we are working for eternal life.  Then we are laboring to save our souls.  And after saving our own souls we are laboring for the salvation of our children... I want to say that the best inheritance that you can leave to your sons and daughters is an investment in the kingdom of God."

Presdent George Albert Smith said that we "are making a real investment that will return an eternal dividend."  Perhaps this adds some meaning to D&C 6:7 where it says that "he that hath eternal life is rich."

There are three underlying principles behind the idea of "investing in our marriage": 1. Faith 2. The law of the harvest 3. By small and simple things great things come to pass.

Essentially an investment is something that we pay now, with the anticipation that we will receive more at a future date.  Obviously this requires a great deal of hope and faith.  In the last general conference Elder Richard G Scott said, "we must take time to actively exercise our faith.  Such exercise invites the postive, faith-filled power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ into our lives.  Our Father in Heaven has given us tools to help us come unto Christ and exercise faith in His Atonement.  When these tools become fundamental habits, they provide the easiest way to find peace in the challenges of mortality." He then went on to explain that these four tools are scripture study, prayer, FHE, and temple attendance.  This exercise of our faith requires hope.  As Ether 12:4 puts it, "hope for a better world, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men".  If we didn't have hope and faith we would not invest in our futures because we would only think about the now.  For this reason, our entire life can be a "trial of our faith" and we may not "receive a witness until after the trial of our faith".  Meaning, we might not see the return on our investment in this life.  We might wonder if our small actions will really pay off, but the Lord has a way of duplicating our efforts.

The second principle, the law of the harvest (or as a sister in my mission called it, the law of charma) teaches us that what we put in we will get out.  So if we invest a lot in our marriage we will receive a lot back.  Ezra Taft Benson said that "he observed his parents, he saw the joy, peace, and strength that came when family members chose to be faithful to one another and the Lord.  He learned that the law of the harvest - "whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" - applies to spiritual pursuits as well as physical labor.  A lot of young married couples think that they can postpone sowing the seeds until a more convenient date.  I love what D&C 64:33 says, "be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundations of a great work.  And out of small things proceedeth that which is great."  We really are laying the foundation for our future and we should never be weary of doing that which is good.

This leads to the last principle I wish to discuss, that by "small things proceedeth that which is great".  This is a unique teaching to the Book of Mormon.  The world would tell us that if you want something big you need to do something big.  That only extraordinary efforts merit any great reward.  However, since the Lord can magnify our efforts we know that even things that might appear small (like how Erica and I go out on a date every week) can lead to tremendous eternal blessings.  "Now [the world] may suppose that this is foolishness, by very small means the Lord bringeth about the salvation of many souls."

So although right now Erica and I are at a very smooth part of our lives, where everything looks pleasant and the future seems bright, we should not think that we can avoid making this regular investments in our marriage.  If we think that when trying times arise we can make some withdrawals, if we haven't already made those deposits we will find out that we have "insufficient funds."  So at this young stage in our marriage it is important to not say "All is well in Zion, yea, Zion prospereth, all is well" but rather "while all is well, let us prepare by laying the foundation for the future."