Happiness is No Accident

Is a happy marriage possible?

I believe the answer to that question is yes. But there is a catch: happiness isn’t dependent on good things happening to you. It’s dependent on you choosing to be happy.

Author Kevin Thompson learned that happy marriages are no accident by observing his grandparents. They were married for 70 years! After such a long time together, a lot of people suggested that they were “lucky” to have so many things go their way. But Kevin’s grandparents quickly pointed out that they were happy despite their circumstances. Both of them were born into poverty; married each other at an early age; worked long, hard hours at their jobs; and struggled to raise their children on two meager salaries. Their happiness wasn’t the result of luck or good chemistry. It was the result of commitment, sacrifice, and hard work.

Kevin’s grandparents’ marriage advice is the best you’ll get all day. Marriage is a profound mystery on many levels, but it’s rooted in a knuckles-in-the-dirt commitment to love each other when life is tough, to resolve differences, and to work together. Couples are happy not because they’re lucky but because they anchor their relationship in hard work and stick together as closely through the bad times as through the good times.

Is a happy marriage possible? Yes, it is. But it won’t come to you by accident.

You have to choose to go after it.