Queen Elizabeth and 70 years of Marriage

The Sanctity of Marriage

I was this morning.... about the sanctity of marriage and the appropriate gifts for celebrating. As I sat in my taxi, I browsed through the news headlines and saw this BBC news that asked, 'what do you give to your partner to celebrate 70 years of marriage?' The very first question that popped in my head was 'No be two of us marry? why should I give my partner a gift?' Feeling a bit ashamed that I am thinking like a typical African, I put my hand in the basket of my thoughts again to try and bring out a fitting gift for a platinum wedding anniversary, but I couldn't help but reflect on the more important question of what is it that keeps a couple together for 70 years in a world where couples divorce because of toothpaste, tomato paste or even peanut butter paste?

This was my thought as Queen Elizabeth and her husband Prince Philip marked their platinum wedding anniversary last Monday. The couple got married at Westminster Abbey November 20 1947, and 70 years on, Elizabeth (91) and Philip (96) are not tired of each other. What are they doing that modern day celebrities are missing? I have heard some seniors advise the youths to watch the family they are marrying into. They say if the parents are divorced, then 'e dey the family.' Has divorce become a contagious or hereditary disease? To show the futility of that thinking, do you know that while the marriage of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip has remained strong, three of their four children have seen their unions end in divorce? Most notable is heir Prince Charles's ill-fated union with his late wife Princess Diana. Please don't tell me the children need deliverance.

I am thinking, though my marriage is still a long way from 70 years, what can I learn from this power couple? While Prince William says the secret is them being comfortable in each other presence, others say it is their shared sense of humor (SSOH). The Queen herself says, 'He has, quite simply been my strength and stay all these years,' and Prince Philip says, 'You can take it from me, the Queen has the quality of tolerance in abundance.' Hmm!!!

While everyone in marriage will put forward different qualities that make their marriage work, to me it is a combination of the little things, the God factor, tolerance and the firm knowledge that, come rain or shine we are together, that makes the difference. Hence Romans 8:38 says, 'For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,' shall be able to separate us from the love of God.

My prayer is that as our marriages take one step at a time towards 70 years, any principality that wants to ply it's trade on us will expire this year in Jesus name. Amen.

Happy Sunday.

.....Just the thoughts of a certain Wey Mey.