Wednesday, March 26, 2008

 

Living For God Series

 

Genesis 2:24 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.”

 

Forever Yours

For William and Ann it was the long awaited day, a beautiful spring day in a quiet garden.  The wedding was exclusively a family day.  The guest list was short, just parents, siblings, nieces, and nephews.  The men wore dark suits and the women were in silk and smiles in anticipation of words shortly to be said.  

 

The pageantry of the wedding was perfect.   As Pachelbel’s Canon in D was played the birds and fountain added to the classic notes.   I was in my black robe and glistening white wedding stole.  As the sun reflected on my hair, I took my place.   The groom was slightly flustered as his father cajoled.   The mothers of the bride and groom were slightly teary as they sat in their new silk gowns and remembered the past as they anticipated the future.   The flower girl in her pink and chocolate dress carried her roses and flawlessly took her place.   The sister of the bride, too, in chocolate and pink, smiled beautifully as she came to stand next to the flower girl.  The music changed and from the quiet inn onto the garden grounds emerged the bride, more beautiful than she had ever been.   Her satin gown seemed to float around her as her nephew escorted her down the aisle.  

 

I smiled as they stood before me and repeated the words I have said before many other couples, many other years.   Yet, somehow, the rhythm of the sentences seemed new and grand, hopeful and majestic.  I spoke the charge, asked the questions, heard the vows, and prayed the prayers.  There is always this place in the service when I give them the ring and say the words of affirmation and commitment.   He spoke, as did she, the sentence, “With this ring I thee wed.”   In that sentence is a lifetime of commitment, the years of loving through troubles and joy, the loss of dreams, and the realization of hopes.  It is a sentence of mutually perceptive understanding.  The pain of birth and the loss of what is unbelievable as the pageantry of life unfolds.   The commitment remains through the years of spring flowers and winter winds.  

 

I hope with every bride and groom that as the memories of the wedding fades that the commitment of the marriage grows.   In the words of that one sentence is the strength and determination of a lifetime.   In the making and keeping of that one vow, life offers an assurance of one person who can be forever yours.   Amid the words of joy is the strength of a foundation and the hope of a love that grows with the beating of two hearts down through the years as they share together this precious commodity called life.  

 

Prayer;
Dear God, help our commitments to be real and our love genuine.  Amen.