Sweet Gabrielle

We are celebrating another wedding in our family today of my niece, Gabrielle and her Brian.  Something that is different about our families is divorce seldom occurs.
All of my siblings and myself have been married to the first spouse. My husband and his siblings are the same.  His parents will celebrate sixty five  years of matrimony this summer. (Lyle Lyon died a month short of their seventieth, May 15, 2016)  My parents, had they lived, sixty nine years.  My mother was a widow eighteen years and never dated. 
My niece's father's family has the same record.  They have all been married close to forty years.  And Gabrielle's grandmother also has never dated since her husband died.
Brian's family from what I hear has a similar record.
What is so special about marriage?  Why in this world of living together and anything goes, do couples want to go to the altar?
I believe we all have inside us the sweetest story from time immortal.  A creation of perfection, a tragedy, a ransom and a rescue provide the plot to this story.  Fairy tales follow this story.  Classics are centered on unselfish love.  Even modern popular stories have the elements of this wonderful story.  A love unconditional that we all crave for ourselves.  We want someone to love us for ourselves and to give up life for us.  It is inside all of us.  And we all want this adventure.
Human love can disappoint, humans disappoint each other.  It is in staying together in the vows we take, the commitment we make that continues and represents the Great Story.
This Great Story is Jesus and His love for people.  He created us in His image.  He paid the ransom for our folly, our sin by dying on the cross.  He rescues those who choose to believe and stay true to Him.  And He is returning for those who believe, He calls His Bride.
The Great Story is inside us all, whether we acknowledge it or not.  We are to model His love to each other and that is why we still want marriage.  Marriage is the symbol of this love.  Inside us, we all want  happily ever after.  God  put that there.
So I pray for Gabrielle and Brian today that they continue the Story with a long marriage of blessings and love.