"It's not Natural; it's divine."

Something I learned this semester from Brother Williams that I will never forget is when speaking about a certain pattern, relationship, or attitude he would say, "It's not natural....it's divine." Let's talk a little bit about the family and it's divinity......

The Family: A Proclamation To The World says, "The Family is Ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan...... Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities." Think about that. "The Family is ordained of God". To Ordain is " to destine" or "to confer holy orders upon" (dictionary.com). So, God has said that the family is holy and has been given a great destiny and purpose. And divine is heavenly or celestial (dictionary.com). So the family being holy with a great destiny is meant to be celestial. But as each and everyone of us families bring both that heavenly divine joy and the wrack and torment us with pain and sorrow. It is our duty to overcome those pains of torment and seek out the divinity of the Family. This may often seem beyond our capacity; But, it isn't beyond the Lord's. Dating is difficult. Engagements are crazy difficult. And the transition into marriage, marriage, and parenthood may feel downright painful and impossible to bear. But a wise marriage and family therapist and BYU-I professor once said, "Marriage helps us become much more than human." From what I've seen, marriage isn't for the weak, but the weak get married. So as we begin our marriages we must begin to overcome our weaknesses, become increasingly more Christ-like, discover and love the divinity of marriage and family, and become more than we are.  We must become what we are destined to be in marriage and family life. It is in these divine stages of life that we gain our celestial glory.