Secret to a long marriage

"It is often possible to understand why a marriage fails, as so many do. It is much more difficult, though, to elucidate why one succeeds. Why do some couples thrive, while others fizzle or flame out, despite their best intentions?"  


The Wall Street Journal ran an article today on the secret to a happy long marriage.  The #4 - don't die early. Stay alive and you can have a long married life.  Thanks for the obvious.  But the other 3 items were more worthwhile: 
1. Find the middle ground - give and take is what makes a marriage work
2. Be funny, learn to joke and laugh with one another
3. Never ever give up.  Stick with it and it will last.


I appreciate their candid assessment of number 3.  It is hard to be married, there is good and there is bad, but keep with it and it will last.  For once, the wisdom of the world seems to be coinciding with that of the Scriptures.  Husbands love you wives, wives respect your husband.  Let no man separate what God has joined together.  There is #1 and #3 again with some humor thrown in for good measure.