Note: Dr. Allen E. Bergin, an award-winning psychology professor, researcher, writer, and counselor, has written a book to guide Latter-day Saints in achieving self-improvement. In this article, BYU Studies examines chapter 8 of Dr. Bergin's book, Eternal Values and Personal Growth: A Guide on Your Journey to Spiritual, Emotional, and Social Wellness .

Some people think of happy marriage as a destination reached on the wedding day. Assuming they are entitled to “happily ever after,” these couples do not anticipate the depth and breadth of common marital challenges and therefore are not always prepared to meet them. Such people may even see conflict as evidence of having made a wrong choice in a marriage partner since, according to their expectations, the right choice would have yielded more uninterrupted joy.

Latter-day Saint psychologist Dr. Allen E. Bergin points out the dangers of such thinking: once a person begins questioning the wisdom of his or her marriage choice, “the next step is either resignation to living with a mistake or divorce and renewing the search. Neither remedy is appealing.” Dr. Bergin explains that a feeling of resignation “leads to a lifeless marriage” while “the search-some-more response leads to unstable and soul-damaging serial monogamy,” otherwise known as relationship hopping. In order to avoid these responses, couples can recognize and accept that all marriages go through stages. Humans change. Therefore, relationships change. There is no such thing as an effortless marriage.

If couples keep the perspective that marriage was intended, in part, to teach us to offer Godly devotion and demonstrate covenant keeping, the antagonisms and challenges in marriage can bring growth rather than disillusionment. Dr. Bergin emphasizes the importance of covenants. “If marriages were static—a ‘snapshot' of two people in the perfect pose of affection, like an engagement photograph—there would be no need for covenant commitment and Christlike consecration,” he says. “People could ensure marital success by searching carefully” until they found someone perfectly compatible. “Such a relationship would be easy indeed,” Dr. Bergin writes, but also “untenable.” Instead, couples are expected to puzzle “through the various shapes and circumstances of their lives, creating and re-creating, fitting and re-fitting a loving and eternal union.”

Couples may have a better time “puzzling” through their relationship if they anticipate the seasons of marriage rather than being surprised by them. Dr. Bergin labels the four stages as visionary, adversarial, dormant, and vital.

Dr. Bergin points out that only couples who stay the course through the difficult stages “bring to fruition the vital stage of their marriage.” This stage rewards the couple with the highest levels of stability, commitment, acceptance, and Christlike love. “Their relationship is deeper, more complete, and more intimate than at any other time.”

Couples who are in the midst of the adversarial or dormant stage, but who long for the Eden-like experience they enjoyed during the visionary stage, are sure to be disappointed. Such high expectations create a chasm between the fantasy marriage and the real marriage that is nearly impossible to bridge. Divorce is often the result of such high expectations. Instead, when couples forgive, accept, and work toward marital renewal, they look back on the visionary stage as enchanting and satisfying, but ultimately shallow. When couples see that the only way to grow closer is through the ups and downs, sorrows and joys of life, they can enter the vital stage. This stage “is a very real redemption of the relationship, but it is not a return to the pristine, ignorant bliss of the visionary Eden . It is mature, stable, committed, nurturing, and loving, with full knowledge and without illusions. It is fully realized intimacy.”

Dr. Bergin encourages, “No matter how bad things may look in a relationship, the potential for change, healing, growth, and happiness is almost always present.” He advises couples to allow hope to motivate their thoughts and actions. “As they approach their seasons of marriage with an abiding, eternal perspective (‘this too shall pass'), they are more likely to be optimistic about their future together.”

For more ideas on family and personal wellness, get the BYU Studies book Eternal Values and Personal Growth by Dr. Allen E. Bergin.