"Bad men cannot make good citizens. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience are incompatible with freedom."
Patrick Henry
"God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever."
Thomas Jefferson
"In circumstances dark as these, it becomes us, as Men and Christians, to reflect that, whilst every prudent Measure should be taken to ward off the impending Judgements... All confidence must be withheld from the Means we use; and reposed only on that GOD who rules in the Armies of Heaven, and without whose Blessing the best human Counsels are but Foolishness--and all created Power Vanity...."
John Hancock
Most of us have spent many years training to do our jobs well and in preparing ourselves to be successful in our chosen careers. At the same time we enter a lifelong marriage contract with little or no preparation at all. I know none of us believe that it is because the woman we choose to marry is always easily understood or we believed that marriage was not going to be challenging.
Those of us who have been married for any length of time know that if our wife is not happy, we're probably not going to be happy. Our relationship with our wife should be one of our top priorities. A strong marriage carries into every part of our life. It affects our work, our relationship with our children and our friends, and it allows us to have a joy and peace about us that is priceless.
For most of us our concept of what marriage should be simply comes from what we have watched in others. That probably is not enough considering the number of problem marriages and divorces that exist in our society. Few movies or television programs depict healthy relationships. That's why we need to start changing our country by making our marriage strong.
For more on this subject see:
Discover Your Mate's Built in Marriage Manual and
Praise Her (At Least) Once a Day.