A Marriage is for Life, not just for Youth

I recently spoke to a young couple seeking to be married. I asked them why they wanted this. They thought for a moment and said because they loved each other. It felt genuine and sincere. I suggested that this was a good answer. If they were doing it to please others or they needed an excuse for a party, I'd have said they were wasting their time.

 I went onto explain two things: Young and attractive though they were, their looks would fade with time, but their mannerisms, habits and character would remain- both good and bad. I went onto to say that divorce was simply not an option. When you marry, only death can part them. According to the Office For National Statistics:

 Based on marriage, divorce and death statistics for 2010, about 42% of marriages are expected to end in divorce - a drop from 45% in 2005. The number of divorces in 2011 was highest among people aged 40 to 44. In 2011, 10.8 people divorced per thousand married people, compared with 12.9 in 2001.

 When you marry, you promise each other, your friends and family gathered, and God if you believe He's present, that you'll remain together until one of you dies:

 to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I plight thee my troth. -Anglican Book of Common Prayer.