Freedom-Fighters Forum

By William J. Dell – February 2004

As we have been thinking about planning our Second Annual Sweetheart Dinner for our married children and their spouses, which will be on the seventh of February, I was reminded of the little song of our parent’s era entitled above. It is important that we work at remaining in love with our Sweethearts. It has been said, “The secret to a successful marriage is falling in love again and again always with the same person.” So in the words of another tune, when is the last time your Sweetheart heard, “Have I told you lately that I love you. Can I tell you once again somehow?”

In a busy world where we are constantly eking out a living it is easy to take our Sweetheart for granted. How often we overlook the little daily things that they do to assist us and make our lives more enjoyable and beautiful. How often we forget how we courted our Sweetheart and won their affections and love. It is good that we have a Valentine’s Day to help us pause and reflect on the great blessing and treasure Heavenly Father has put in our lives through the presence of a loving and caring spouse.

We need to remember this wise counsel from the great teacher and philosopher ‘Anonymous’ who said, “The greatest gift a father [mother] can give his [her] children is to love their mother [father].” Or as recorded in the Doctrine & Covenants 42:22: “Thou shalt love thy wife [husband] with all thy heart, and shalt cleave unto her [him] and none else.” I realize that these great maxims and instructions were given to us husbands but they apply equally as well to our wives. It just seems that most men need more reminding than their Sweethearts.

It is my opinion that it takes three to make a successful marriage: The man, the woman, and Christ. In my mother’s home, there hung a plaque which read, “Christ is the head of this house. The unseen guest at every meal and the silent listener to every conversation.” As we choose to build a Christ-centered relationship with our Sweetheart, we need to remember that it can only be held together with the mortar of Charity and true Gospel principles. Let us remember that charity is a Celestial Law and if we want a Celestial marriage we need to learn to live this law particularly as it applies to our Sweetheart.

It is my prayer that we will continually court our Sweetheart throughout the year, not just for Valentine’s Day, and do many of the things that we did to win their affections and love. In this way they will hear resoundingly all year long, “Let me call you Sweetheart, I’m in love with you.” And we will never have to wonder, “Have I told you lately that I love you?”

Lastly, I would remind all of us that love is a choice. So let us resolve to choose to love our Sweetheart each and every day of our lives and in someway to let them know of our choice.