Ask anyone these days about the state of marriage in America and chances are most people will say it's in trouble. Recent statistics show that nearly six of every ten marriages will end in divorce. Latter-day Saints fare a little better than the national average, but it appears from all studies and commentaries that it's tough to make marriages work these days.

Frequently, the Church News recognizes couples who are celebrating 70 or more years of marriage. While each couple has their own reasons why their marriage has lasted, they all share one thing in common: commitment to each other over the long haul.

Such commitment is entirely too rare these days. There seem to be as many things pulling couples apart as there are driving them together. What is needed most in marriage today is for husband and wife to be fiercely and fearlessly loyal to one another and to take sacred their vows to "cleave to [one another] and none else," to paraphrase Doctrine and Covenants 42:22.

What those who have been married for some time realize is that marriage takes work, almost as much effort and planning as any career. Being joined as a couple in marriage is not necessarily convenient. Couples need their own space, but partners also should recognize that anything they do as individuals should not reflect badly on their spouses. Their individual pursuits should complement each other, and they should work daily for the betterment of themselves and their spouses.

President Joseph F. Smith said: "Brethren and sisters, . . . there never should be a shade of difference in your feelings; there never should be a thing permitted to come between you and estrange you one from another; you should not allow it." (Teachings of the Presidents of the Church — Joseph F. Smith, p. 180.)

President James E. Faust — as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve — offered six telling questions couples should ask themselves about their own marriages:

"First, am I able to think of the interest of my marriage and partner first before I think of my own desires?

"Second, how deep is my commitment to my companion, aside from any other interests?

"Third, is he or she my best friend?

"Fourth, do I have respect for the dignity of my partner as a person of worth and value?

"Fifth, do we quarrel over money? Money itself seems neither to make a couple happy, nor the lack of it, necessarily, to make them unhappy, but money often is a symbol of selfishness.

"Sixth, is there a spiritually sanctifying bond between us?" (Conference Report, 1977, p. 13.)

Ideally, the answers to President Faust's questions would be such that husband and wife would pull together, not apart.

President Spencer W. Kimball declared, "If two people love the Lord more than their own lives and then love each other more than their own lives, working together in total harmony with the gospel program as their basic structure, they are sure to have this great happiness." (Marriage and Divorce, p. 24.)

President Gordon B. Hinckley has said, "The accumulated wisdom of centuries declares with clarity and certainty that the greater happiness, the greater security, the greater peace of mind, the deeper reservoirs of love are experienced only by those who walk according to time-tested standards of virtue before marriage and total fidelity within marriage." (Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley, p 330.)

May we strengthen our marriages through obedience to God's laws and commitment to one another in accordance with the counsel from our Church leaders.