With Valentines Day just a mere 5 days away some of you are getting pumped to spend that special day with somebody who is at least equally special. Others of you will wait out the day in the company of good friends. Still others of you will spend it alone, watching movies and eating pizza…or at the very worst…doing homework.
Valentines Day has become a day where society focuses on love. However, I’m wondering if we have forgotten what love is really about? Being a member of the Western world, an elite group of countries who have it all, and live the good life compared to many other countries who struggle with conflicts of many kinds. I have seen love become commercialized in almost every way imaginable. Commercialization of love tends to cheapen it in my opinion. “Buy your sweetheart a box of chocolates and she’ll love you forever!” First of all, chocolate is very nice, and it can make you happy for a short period of time. But that same chocolate will be through your digestive system in a matter of hours…and then what are you going to do? Chocolate does not provide love for the long term. It is your attitude toward love and how you treat your lover that makes love work.
Now if you’ll all turn in your Bibles (if you don’t have one, you should get one…but it’s posted below) to 1 Corinthians 13 you will then be able to see the attributes that lead to good love!
1 Corinthians 13:
Unfortunately, in todays world, envy seems to be the way of it. If you become unhappy with your partner you can just divorce them on a whim and find someone better.
Statistics Canada presents us with the following rates of divorce throughout the years:
| Years | No. of divorces | Rates per 100,000 population. | Rates per 100,000Married Couples |
| 1921 | 558 | 6.4 | N/A |
| 1941 | 2,462 | 21.4 | N/A |
| 1961 | 6,563 | 36.0 | N/A |
| 1968* | 11,343 | 54.8 | N/A |
| 1969 | 26,093 | 124.2 | N/A |
| 1981 | 67,671 | 271.8 | 1,174.4 |
| 1985** | 61,980 | 253.6 | 1,103.3 |
| 1986 | 78,304 | 298.8 | 1,301.6 |
| 1987*** | 96,200 | 362.3 | 1,585.5 |
| 1990 | 80,998 | 295.8 | 1,311.5 |
| 1994 | 78,880 | 269.7 | 1,246.3 |
| 1995 | 77,636 | 262.2 | 1,221.9 |
| * Reform of Divorce Laws ** Divorce Act (“no fault“) *** Peak year |
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About 75 and 65%, respectively, of divorced men and women remarry. The probability of remarriage between the years of 35-50 for women is 48% compared to 61% for men. For younger women between 25 and 35, the probability is 66% and closer to 80% among men. Therefore, it is obvious that age discriminates against women: the older they are, the lower their chances of remarrying. But this is not the case for men. Such is the double standard. One has to consider that an unknown proportion of this 25 to 35% of men and women who do not remarry do cohabit. But this is more likely to happen for younger divorced persons than older ones, and more likely for men than women. Nevertheless, older cohabitants after a divorce are also becoming more numerous.
Source: http://www.divorcerate.org/divorce-rates-in-canada.html
Divorce rates are steadily increasing. And no matter how you put it, there is no way to lovingly divorce someone. No matter what, divorce always hurts at least one person. It should be generally avoided.
Divorce causes many problems for everyone involved, especially if it involves breaking up a family. If you’re married, you’ve GOT TO REMAIN COMMITTED! …no matter what happens.
“6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
