In the new year, people collect their bonuses and quit their jobs. Lately, news of people quitting their marriages are also surfacing. Many, too many, couples split each day, I’m sure. But each time I learn of one, it is one too many.

A priest once told us this story:

It was a Friday and a Catholic on a flight requested for a no meat dish. The man seated next to him declined any meals as he was fasting. Impressed by his seat-neighbour’s sacrifice and discipline, the Catholic asked, “Are you Catholic too?” The man replies, “No, I’m making a sacrifice to Satan. For every fast, a marriage ends in divorce.”

As much as a union thrills me, a breakup saddens me.

It also serves to remind me to treasure what I have. To never take for granted the partner God has chosen and given to me. I want to remember to make my beloved feel special and to know that I choose to love him everyday. Despite our busy schedules, the distance and our preoccupation with other things, to remember that every effort is in naught if not for the person we love.

And this is easier said than done. I’m often tired and irritable at the end of the day. It is easier to just let time together slip away. There is always tomorrow, right? Before we know it, it would have been night after night of not talking, not connecting and eventually “irreconcilable differences”.