Many of our favorite old fairy tales have this ending: "So they were married and lived happily ever after." And this is what many of us would like to think about marriage . . . happily ever after. However, we all know from divorce statistics and the brokenhearted letters to advice columns that many couples do not achieve marital happiness. There may be more divorces today, but that doesn't necessarily mean that there is more unhappiness in marriage. We have no idea how many couples one or two generations ago stayed together because it was impossible for them to separate. People who are ready to get married have been dreaming some private dreams of love and happiness. The movies and love stories would have us believe that happy marriage is something handed as a gift to us on our wedding day. Actually, a happy marriage is something to be created together through many years of loving, caring, nurturing, and "hanging in there" through good times and bad. Marriage is a beautiful, life-consuming relationship. Other than your relationship to God, marriage is the most important relationship you will ever have. It is worth all of the time, energy, sacrifice, and devotion you can put into it.