I found this on a friend's facebook page...and loved it, and needed a place to post it so that I can refer it whenever I need be.

Have A Little Faith
By: Mitch Albom

There was a chapter titled, "A Good Marriage," that was worth sharing.

------------------"A Good Marriage" ---------------

"Can you predict which marriages will survive? I asked.

'Sometimes,' he said. "If they're communicating well, they have a good chance. If they have a similar belief system, similar values, they have a good chance.'

What about Love?

'Love they should always have. But love changes.'

'What do you mean?'

'Love - the infatuation kind - 'he's so handsome, she's so beautiful'- that can shrivel. As soon as something goes wrong, that kind of love can fly out the window.

On the other hand, a true love can enrich itself. It gets tested and grows stronger. Like in Fiddler on the Roof? You remember? When Tevye sings 'Do You Love Me?'?"

Religion. Tradition. Community. And a husband and wife - Tevye and Golde- whose love is proven through actions, not words.

'When she says, 'How can you ask if I love you? Look at all I've done with you. What else would you call it?'

'THAT kind of love - the kind you realize you already have by the life you've created together - that's the kind that lasts.'

The Reb was lucky to have such a love with Sarah. It had endured hardships by relying on cooperation - and selflessness. The Reb was fond of telling young couples, 'Remember, the only difference between "marital" and "martial" is where you put the i.'

He also, on occasion, told the joke about a man who complains to his doctor that his wife, when angry, gets historical.

"You mean hysterical," the doctor says.

"No, historical," the man says. "She lists the *history* of every wrong thing I've ever done!"

Still, the Reb knew that marriage was an endangered institution. He'd officiated for couples, seen them split, then officiated when they married someone else.

'I think people expect too much from marriage today,' he said.

'They expect perfection. Every moment should be bliss. That's TV or movies. But that is not the human experience.'

'Like Sarah says, twenty good minutes here, forty good minutes there, it adds up to something beautiful. The trick is when things aren't so great, you don't junk the whole thing. It's okay to have an argument. It's okay that the other one nudges you a little, bothers you a little. It's a part of being close to someone.

'But the joy you get from that same closeness - when you watch your children, when you wake up and smile at each other - that, as our tradition teaches us, is a blessing. People forget that.'

'Why do they forget?'

'Because the word "commitment" has lost its meaning. I'm old enough to remember when it used to be a positive. A committed person was someone to be admired. He was loyal and steady. Now a commitment is something you avoid. You don't want to tie yourself down.

'It's the same with faith, by the way. We don't want to get stuck having to go to services all the time, or having to follow all the rules. We don't want to commit to God. We'll take Him when we need Him, or when things are going good.

But real commitment? That requires staying power - in faith and in marriage.'

'And if you don't commit' I asked.

'Your choice. But you miss what's on the other side.'

'What's on the other side?'

"Ah." He smiled. "A happiness you cannot find alone."