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A Spiritual Mind Replies To The Question “What Defines A Marriage.”
Marriage is most visibly noted through the exchange of rings, and legal documentation. However, rings and certificates do not enhance our union with that divine presence within us. That inner divinity is the source that draws relationships together to form enduring bonds.
The union of two people is possible only when the spiritual fruit blossom to bond us together. Rings and documentation are not the source that produces the fruit of the spirit. That fruit includes love, peace, faith, and perseverance. Through that divine fruit, there are kindness, goodwill, gentleness, meekness, joy, goodness, self-control, and patience. Those are the qualities that enable relationships to form enduring unions.
HEALTH
Rings and documentation is not the source of healthy unions. We are all aware of people who wear rings and have legal proof of their “marriage”, but suffer physical abuse at the will of their spouse. They feel hatred, are cruel, and have ill-intent toward one another. However, if the spiritual fruit of love, goodwill, and kindness would blossom within their union the marriage would discover bonding qualities. Any union that conveys the spirit of the divine fruit, to honor one another’s physical health, should be recognized as an honorable event.
SECURITY
Rings and legal documentation do not add to the spirit of security within a marriage. We are all aware of couples who wear rings and have their marriage license, but feel insecure and threatened. They are filled with insecurities about the spouse's infidelity, squandering money from the bank, AID’s, or continually leaving the marriage and returning. The “marriage” is referred to as being “rocky” because of the instability. However, only the spiritual fruit of peace, joy, love, and perseverance can provide tranquility, stability, and enduring bonds. Any union that produces fruit to provide a safe and secure marriage should be given respect and honor.
BELONGING
Rings and pieces of paper do not contribute to the acceptance of a marriage by others. We are all aware of people who voice opposition to unions because of cultural prejudices. They isolate, exclude, and bar family members, and their spouse, from fellowship within family circles. They convey hatred, hostility, hopelessness, and want the marriage to end. However, if a union displays love, peace, faith, and perseverance, there will be belonging and acceptance within the couple’s union. There should be a welcome to any union that accepts one another through the divine spiritual fruit.
SELF-WORTH
Rings and legal documentation do not contribute to self-worth or esteem within a marriage. We are all aware of couples who wear rings and have tangible evidence of their “marriage," but feel poorly about themselves. They are unappreciated, made to feel worthless as a spouse, and lose esteem for their partner and the marriage. However, through the spiritual fruit, there is an increase in our esteem for one another through love, honor, respect, and adoration. When a union conveys esteem for one another through the wholesome qualities of the divine fruit, that relationship deserves recognition.
SELF-EXPRESSION
Rings and legal documentation do not enhance our expression of love within a “marriage." We are all aware of couples who wear rings and have a license of marriage, but their words and behaviors do not convey the spirit of love. The spouse talks to the other with cruelty, incites arguments, and speaks harshly. There is a little expression of gentleness or comfort within the “marriage.” When words and behaviors convey love, gentleness, and joyfulness to one another, the spiritual fruit is evident in the relationship. Those fruits are rewards from the inner divinity. A relationship like that should be honored through the spirit of goodwill and kindness.
Some people will deny any form of marriage that conveys bonding through the spiritual fruit. They do not want people to form unions with that divine inner goodness. They become angry and depressed at those who form unions that do not fit into their non-spiritual and fruitless definition of marriage. They refuse to find agreement with unions that violate their frame of mind, even though the marriage blossom with love, peace, faith, and perseverance. They will never accept marriages that exclude them, but include that divine inner presence, which generates spiritual fruit.
We can assess that many various marriages form through the blossom of the spiritual fruit. The diagnosis is that some people will oppose specific marriages even though they bloom of the fruit of love and peace. Even so, we plan to form unions according to the divine presence within us, which rewards us with spiritual fruit. We implement that plan by forming relationships where the rewards of the fruit of the spirit blossom. We know we are successful because the relationship will flower with kindness, goodwill, joy, goodness, meekness, gentleness, patience, and self-control.