The Blessings of Eternal Marraige

John and I and our family have been asked to speak on the subject mentioned in the title. I helped my 3 younger children write their talks and then had no more material for myself, just kidding. It made me feel like I had reached that next platue of parenthood because my kids have never been old enough to speak with us in sacrament meeting before. It's a little bit shocking sometimes to realize how old my kids are getting also it makes me feel nostalgic about the past. I also hope that Mary will say what's written on her paper and not get stage fright, I'm sure she'll be fine... I started writing my talk and was taken down a path towards reasons why people don't see marraige as a blessing these days, let alone eternal marraige. It's so looked down upon by society, satan tries to and is succeeding in convincing society that marraige and family is for people who don't want to accomplish anything. The question is why do people think raising a family isn't worth accomplishing? Society's opinion also affects the divorce rate. The devil tries to teach us it's all about us and not serving others, what do I get, what do I need, why don't I get back what I put in? This is where patience comes in handy, 20-30 years from now you will get back what you put in but our society needs commercials every 8 minutes or they loose their concentration or desire to stay put. I wonder sometimes if I've been affected too much as well or if I can stem the tide of culture virtue (which is none at all). I choose to so I guess I can. It's too bad we're taught to care what other people think so much. If we truly didn't care how would we choose to live our lives as a whole? If you have any thoughts I'd like to hear them before I give my talk on sunday.