Hollywood tells you that you got married to have all your dreams come true.

That your spouse’s job is to make you happy for the rest of your life.

That your spouse will meet your needs…without you even having to ask!

It can be like that at first in a marriage.

But, eventually that “carriage ride” phase wears off.

The fairy dust starts to wear off, and we see our spouse isn’t as perfect as we thought.

And, unfortunately, they start to see that we’re not as perfect as they thought.

This can lead us to ask “What’s the purpose of marriage?”

We can start to think that maybe the point is just to establish a fair trade.

You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.

But, that starts to fail when our spouse doesn’t scratch our back enough, or the right way.

Then we feel justified in not scratching theirs.

So, what are we to do?

Fortunately, God has His purpose for marriage. And, it’s the same as His other purposes: 

To help us become more like Him.

Marriage is the ultimate self-improvement course!

If you take that challenge on, you will grow in ways that you could never have imagined.

You’ll also be free.

Because, if you think it’s your spouse’s job to make you happy, then you are dependent on them to be happy.

That’s not a fun place to be.

Learn more in the first episode of the Helping LDS Families podcast, available here!