What a bad economy can do to marriages

There have been a lot of things associated with our economy lately: lower home values, higher gas prices, and lower divorce rates. Could a bad economy actually help marriages? The latter initially surprised me and the subject of a brief spot on The Today Show: divorce rates in certain places were in fact down. In Dade County they were down something like 19%. Is the love in the air? Have people begun to take wedding vows more seriously? Not really, but maybe inadvertently.

The most likely explanation is the housing market. Since a divorce would require the selling of assets, and the house is the most valuable asset, and since that value has drastically decreased, people are holding off on divorce.

Perhaps many of these marriages will continue on miserably until the economy picks up. And then they can cash in. But one psychologist did admit that the slow housing market might be helping marriages in some cases. Some folks are actually seeking counseling to save their marriages. Instead of trying get out quickly, many are now not responding so hastily. They may be willing to put more worth into their marriages since their other main source of worth isn't worth as much. Some may end up salvaging their marriages. Who knows?

While their motivation for giving marriages another chance has sprung largely from monetary reasons, that's still a start. God in His providence may work things into our world, even into our economy, for the good of His children, and even for the good of those outside His Church. After all, he does display goodness, although in different degrees, to both. Remember that the rain falls on the righteous and the unrighteous. So does the economy.