The Power of a Family

Statistics on divorce are often confusing and misleading. Most often when a number is thrown around, they take into account the rate of divorces per a number of married people as found on their legal registration, which doesn’t accurately predict how likely a marriage is to last. That being said, while divorce rates have actually dropped a bit in the past couple of years, the overall rate of divorce over the last 100 years has increased greatly. In particular, once people no longer needed a specific reason for divorce, such as abuse or infidelity, they occurred much more often, as couples who were simply feeling unsatisfied with their current marriage could end it without as much legal hassle.

While it is often a topic that is rarely discussed and looked down on, divorce can be an important way for a married person to be able to escape from physical, mental, or emotional harm. It is an important decision that should be made only after considering all the consequences it will have and all of the people it will affect. While it can cause some serious problems in the lives of the couple divorcing, in my own experience, it has a much greater negative effect on the lives of the children of the couple. As I have discussed much in previous blogs, children that come from a stable home situation with both a mother and a father will have a much higher chance of avoiding trouble and succeeding in life.

So, I will reiterate what I have learned reading about this touchy subject. Divorce can occasionally be the right decision in extreme situations, but the spouse should really consider it’s the far-reaching impact on their children and should only take this step in situations that are either harmful to each other or harmful to their children.

This is going to be my last post, so I would like to communicate just how amazing and resilient a family can be. During this class, I have learned so many different principles and so many different factors that go into making an amazing family. Our families, and the way we run our families can be such a personal thing that many times this wonderful tips and principles are not heard about or implemented in various families. While I hope that this can change over time, I realize that the world is imperfect and even if every couple was required to take an introductory family course before getting married and having children, some of these concepts can be hard to implement, and some of the factors for a successful family our out of our control.

That is why I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who has a plan for everyone. He has understood from the beginning that families could never be perfect, so just like he has designed us to be resilient to the problems we face, he has designed families to be able to weather great problems as well.

Whether it might be divorce and single-parenthood, death or disability in the family, harmful or hurtful choices made by a family member, or even a family member diverging from the spiritual path, we can have a loving family atmosphere and provide a support network of success for life. Just because a person wasn’t raised in a loving home with two biological supportive parents doesn’t mean that person can’t go on to have a successful life and start a loving, stable family of their own.

Truly I am grateful for my family, I am grateful for the family unit as a part of society, and I look forward to one day being present God’s eternal family with my loved ones.