Long-suffering 长久忍耐

There is a humorous saying, “A couple has to wear three rings, namely, engagement ring, marriage ring and suffering. It implies that what follows a marriage is suffering. Although this is a pessimistic way of looking at marriage, marriage itself does not signify the newly weds are living happily ever after. Instead, the couple may need to deal with conflict between one another, and challenge facing them from time to time. Therefore, not only is it about suffering together, but also having long-suffering for a life-long marriage.

It is imperative for the couple to love one another. But marriage is not sustained by romantic feeling. There are times a couple may not feel like loving one another as it was during their courtship or honeymoon. They know that they should not resolve to separating from one another due to conflict. Instead, they have to fix their relationship and stay on as a married couple because they have made a covenant to be husband and wife at their wedding. Indeed, it is love that has drawn two persons together, whereas, it is the covenant that sustains a life-long marriage. As they are faithful to the covenant, they learn to cherish and love one another.

Therefore, a couple are to wear their engagement rings, then their wedding rings to be followed by “long-suffering”. Indeed, love is long-suffering and it is also the covenantal love.

根据一个幽默的说法：「一对夫妻必须戴三枚戒指，即订婚戒指，结婚戒指和痛苦。」这意味着婚姻之后则是痛苦。虽然这是対婚姻的悲观看法，但是婚姻本身并不能保证新婚夫妇会从此快乐的生活在一起。反而，这对夫妻可能需要处理彼此的冲突，並不时要一起面对挑战。因此，这不仅是指一起受苦，而且是长久忍耐。

対于一对夫妻，彼此相爱乃是至关重要，然而要维续婚姻並不是透过浪漫的感觉。某些时候，夫妻不会像在恋爱或蜜月期间那样地感受到爱。但是他们信守不会因为冲突而彼此分开。相反的，他们必须调整关系，继续保持夫妻关系，因为他们已经在婚礼上立下了盟约。的确透过爰情， 可以把两个人联系在一起，然而却是因为婚约促成了长久婚姻。当他们忠于盟约时，他们就必须学习彼此珍惜和相爱。

所以，一对夫妻要戴上他们的订婚戒指，然后是他们的结婚戒指，随之而来的乃是“长久忍耐”。的确，爱是长久忍耐，它也是盟约的爱。