The following thread was shared on Twitter.
I had a wonderful Bishop a few years ago when I moved into a new apartment complex in Provo that gave me the best dating advice I have ever heard.
I had recently broken up with a girl and, being the assistant ward clerk, Bishop noticed I wasn’t my usual chipper self.
He called me into his office and we talked about what had happened and he told me, “Les, if you want to find a good wife, what do you think you need to do?”
I said, “Go on dates?”
He smiled and said, “Yes but what else?” I looked at him confused.
He continued: “If you want to attract a woman, you need to cultivate those virtues within yourself. If you want a woman of strong faith, you need to strengthen your own faith. If you want a woman who is willing to serve in the Church, you need to serve faithfully in the Church. In short, if you want to find a wife, you need to develop those attributes in you as well, for light cleaveth unto light.”
That conversation profoundly affected me and, even though it would be about a year before I met my wife, I continued to work hard on being the kind of man that I knew that my wife would adore and love.
Now I can’t promise you that you’ll find a husband/wife instantly but I can tell you that this really changed how I approached dating and it worked for me. For the record, that YSA Ward had a very high marriage rate!
What is the best dating advice you have received? Let us know in the comments below.
Yikes! Sorry. That wasn’t super great advice you got. :(
Lucky you! The dating advice I received was something along the lines of “you’ve got to be physically attracted to your potential spouse or when things go wrong you won’t want to stay with him.” Very bad advice. A relationship built on physical attraction (and lust) won’t weather the storms of life. I sure wish I’d paid more attention to the spiritual and character traits that are needed to be successful in life and marriage.