I guess I've won

We have some friends who are struggling with a lot of the same things Chet and I have struggled with in our marriage. They have recently decided to divorce. In thinking of the many times we came close to divorcing, I feel sadness and relief--sadness that we came so close to giving in and relief that we decided to keep trying. It's sobering to hear the wife of this couple say that her husband may never change and she is unwilling to live with that. I often think that for us, the committment to endure was the catalyst for the change we thought might never come. I popped in a General Conference CD and started listening to a talk by Henry B. Eyring. He opened by reminding me of the covenant to endure that members of the church make. What if I hadn't endured the last time I thought to give up? One of my favorite quotes from Elbert Hubbard is: "How many a man has thrown up his hands at a time when a little more effort, a little more patience would have achieved sucess?" I'm not saying there aren't appropriate times for divorce--there are. I just know that for me, divorce would have created more problems than it solved, and looking back makes me see what I am capable of acheiving with endurance. As a fellow beekeeper told me, "In divorce, there are no winners." I guess by not giving up and giving in, I've won.