Anyone who has thought deeply about the institution of marriage would be arrested by the answer Mary Baker Eddy gives to the question "What do you think of marriage?" She says: "That it is often convenient, sometimes pleasant, and occasionally a love affair. Marriage is susceptible of many definitions. It sometimes presents the most wretched condition of human existence. To be normal, it must be a union of the affections that tends to lift mortals higher."Miscellaneous Writings,p. 52
For couples, her response may be sobering. For singles, it may give cause to be wary of the commitment.
It is helpful to realize that while the same marriage can be convenient, pleasant, and a love affair, no matter what degree of human happiness has been achieved in the relationship, the goal must be to lift each other higher. This can only be accomplished through the unselfish love spoken of in the Christian Science textbook: "There should be the most tender solicitude for each other's happiness, and mutual attention and approbation should wait on all the years of married life."Science and Health, p. 59
