Amen to that. We're only coming up on year 17, but that is absolutely true. If God were not the 'third party' in our covenant, we may not have made it this far.

For Adam & Eve, unfallen, the main purpose was companionship-that-brings-fruit. But now, the main purpose holiness and necessarily with uninterrupted happiness. ("Sometimes your spouse leads you to Christ...sometimes your spouse drives you to Him!") Happiness may come, in seasons, but absolutely correct. If my wife wasn't so (thankfully) stubborn, I'd have learned nothing about getting over my own. And, it is at least a little comfort that, since I have so much stubbornness left in me, that we are likely to have many more years of marriage left to whittle that down... 😅