Marriage on the rocks!

Success in marriage is hard to come by, these days. Now it may not be very easy to define success in marriage but the opposite is quite obvious to all. When we find couples finding it difficult to be even on talking terms, then we know that something is drastically wrong. Why is this seen so frequently even among the saints? Well, first of all, marriage is a real indicator of how much of self we carry and that has to be addressed first of all. Both the partners should use marriage to discern why is it that we usually want to have our way or our say most of the time. I believe that unless this core issue is addressed, there can be no progress at all. Marriage is the one of the finest ways that God has instituted to expose selfishness and thereby gain victory over it. 
Another important thing we understand through marriage is that love has to be both wide and focused at the same time. We just cannot treat our spouse like we treat everyone else. That is not acceptable. The commonest of all problems today (in my pastoral experience) is though husband loves his wife, he does not know that he has to place her above everyone else. God wants to reveal His oneness through marriage and so, we have to put our spouse on the pedestal. She or he is the love of my life. I will give my all to him or to her. I will have to carry my spouse close to my heart at all times. It reveals my oneness with God in a way that nothing else can.
There is much more to say but let me stop for now...