The Wedding Vow
Author Unknown
"You are not the air that I breathe,
You are the sweet scent that drifts upon it
You are not the food that I need,
You are the nourishment of my soul
You are not my will to survive
You are my reason for living
It is with you that I experience the wonders of the world
It is with you that I triumph over the challenges in my path
It is your partnership that will lead me
to the fulfillment of my dreams
It is your friendship that guides me
as I learn and grow
It is your patience and wisdom
that calms my restless nature
It is through you that I know my true self
I do not take you for granted, I cherish you
I do not need you, I choose you
I choose you today in witness of all the people who love us
I choose you tomorrow in the privacy of our hearts
I choose you in strength and weakness
I choose you in health and in sickness
I choose you in joy and sorrow
I will choose you, over all others,
every day for all the days of my life."
From The Art Of Marriage
by William A Petersen (Short Version)
A good marriage must be created.
In the marriage, the little things are the big things.
It is never being too old to hold hands.
It is remembering to say "I love you" at least once each day,
It is never going to sleep angry.
It is having a mutual sense of values and objectives.
It is standing together and facing the world.
It is forming a circle of love that gathers in the whole family.
It is speaking words of appreciation and demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways.
It is having the capacity to forgive and forget.
It is giving each other an atmosphere in which each person can grow.
It is a common search for the good and the beautiful.
It is not only marrying the right person
It is being the right partner.
From The Art Of Marriage
by William A Petersen (Longer Version)
A good marriage must be created.
In the marriage, the little things are the big things.
It is never being too old to hold hands.
It is remembering to say, "I love you" at least once a day.
It is never going to sleep angry.
It is at no time taking the other for granted;
the courtship should not end with the honeymoon,
it should continue through all the years.
It is having a mutual sense of values and common objectives.
It is standing together facing the world.
It is forming a circle of love that gathers in the whole family.
It is doing things for each other,
not in the attitude of duty or sacrifice,
but in the spirit of joy.
It is speaking words of appreciation,
and demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways.
It is not expecting the husband to wear a halo
or the wife to have the wings of an angel.
It is not looking for perfection in each other.
It is cultivating flexibility, patience,
understanding and a sense of humor.
It is having the capacity to forgive and forget.
It is giving each other an atmosphere
in which each can grow.
It is finding room for the things of the Spirit.
It is a common search for the good and the beautiful.
It is establishing a relationship in which
the independence is equal, dependence is mutual,
and the obligation is reciprocal.
It is not only marrying the right partner,
it is BEING the right partner.
This is "The Art of Marriage".
Marriage Reading
~ Martin Weitz
If life has meaning to us at all, it possesses it because of love. It is that which enshrines and ennnobles our human experience. It is the basis for the peace of family and the peace of the peoples of the earth. the greatest gift bestowed upon humans is the gift not of demanding, but of giving love between two persons.
Thoughts In a Garden,
By R. Gerhardt
(for a garden wedding)
This is a special place, a place where people have brought beautiful living plants, here to establish them, to nurture and care for them, that they may forever surround us with the beauty we now see. And into this place where we stand, you have brought something beautiful -- the relationship that is becoming your marriage. Here you are declaring it and pledging it, promising to establish and nurture it. We are aware of the special beauty between the two of you, just as we are aware of the special beauty of this place. We are with you now in this appropriate place to celebrate your relationship as it is and as it is yet to be, and in doing so, we ask only that you remember how your life together will have the same seasons and needs as this garden. There will be growth like spring and loss like fall; there will be giving as the blossoming flower, and rest as the seed beneath the snow. All the seasons will be yours, but remember, too, that gardens are not just happenings.
The more wonderful the garden, the more skilled the gardener. So you will have to care deeply for the life that is yours together, and nurture it. You will have to appreciate your differences and cultivate them. You will have to take care of yourself, if for no other reason than out of love for the other. And you will need the support of family and friends to reach full growth. As you caringly chose this place to declare your marriage, so remember its lessons for your life together, through the seasons that are yours to share. And may those seasons bring you a full harvest of joy and happiness.
What is Love?
by Walter Rinder
Love is just not looking at each other and saying "You're wonderful".
There are times when we are anything but wonderful.
Love is looking out in the same direction.
It is linking our strength to pull a common load.
It is pushing together towards the far horizons, hand in hand.
Love is knowing that when our strength falters, we can borrow the strength of someone who cares.
Love is a strange awareness that our sorrows will be shared and made lighter by sharing;
that joys will be enriched and multiplied by the joy of another.
Love is knowing someone else cares that we are not alone in life.
Untitled
- Source Unknown
Love is not some accident we fall into. Falling in love should be suspect. But if we GROW in love, then there is the possibility that our tomorrows will be even more joyous, more tender, and caressing, more devoted to life flowing through us: tomorrows more full of the thrill of life even as each day is better than yesterday. Love has the capacity for that magic. Perhaps only love has such capacity.
Untitled
- George Eliot
What greater thing is there for two human souls than to feel that they are joined together- to strengthen each other in all labor, to minister to ech other in all sorrow, to share with each other in all gladness, to be one with each other in the silent, unsporken memories?
Untitled
- Gilda Radner, Actress and Comedienne
I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity.
From How to Save Your Own Life
- Erica Jong
Do you want me to tell you something really subversive? Love is everything it's cracked up to be. That's why people are so cynical about it. . . . It really is worth fighting for, being brave for, risking everything for. And the trouble is, if you don't risk anything, you risk even more.
Untitled
- Thomas à Kempis, German monk and mystic
Love feels no burden, regards not labors, strives toward more than it attains, argues not of impossibility, since it believes that it may and can do all things. Therefore it avails for all things, and fulfils and accomplishes much where one not a lover falls and lies helpless.
Untitled by William Parrish
from the movie, "Meet Joe Black"
Love is passion, obsession, someone you can't live without. If you don't start with that, what are you going to end up with? Fall head over heels. I say find someone you can love like crazy and who'll love you the same way back. And how do you find him? Forget your head and listen to your heart. I'm not hearing any heart. Run the risk, if you get hurt, you'll come back. Because, the truth is there is no sense living your life without this. To make the journey and not fall deeply in love - well, you haven't lived a life at all. You have to try. Because if you haven't tried, you haven't lived.
Untitled
from “The Mirror Has Two Faces”
We all want to fall in love. Why? Because that experience makes us feel completely alive. Where every sense is heightened, every emotion is magnified, our everyday reality is shattered and we are flying into the heavens. It may only last a moment, an hour, an afternoon. But that doesn’t diminish its value. Because we are left with memories that we treasure for the rest of our lives.
Annie's Song
(Lyrics by John Denver)
You fill up me senses like a night in a forest
Like the mountains in springtime, like a walk in the rain
Like a storm in the desert, like a sleepy blue ocean
You fill up my senses come fill me again.
Come let me love you, let me give my life to you
Let me drown in your laughter, let me die in your arms
Let me lay down beside you, let me always be with you
Come let me love you, come love me again.
Reading for a Second Marriage
~Author Unknown
Everywhere I look I see a world unlike before;
as if the earth was made today,
and now must be explored.
The scent of flowers waft
throughout the air for many miles.
I can't remember it smelling so sweet.
It has been quite a while.
The trees around me seem to bend
their boughs as I walk by.
How wonderful, this newfound love
of each and every life.
All around the bluebirds fly.
They seem to follow my lead.
Right beside me, my new love walks.
There's nothing else I need.
He breathes in deep, then looks at me
and breaks into a smile.
"It's nicer now," He says to me.
"I think I'll stay a while."
As we start our lives anew, I thank the Creator for the
second chance to live with love,
and to share my love with you.
Destinies Love
~ by Saffiya
A fortunate meeting defined by fate and revealed by destiny
an enchanting moment beyond the realm of reason
cunningly disguised in direst circumstances
whose touch is visible only to poetic souls
It chooses its own time and place
evermore pretentious of purpose,
Crossing its hollowed path is futile
even frustrating to willing victims
‘cause it doesn’t bend its will to ones’ desire
Teasing a consoled mind to go astray
that’s always a part of the plan;
Yet it likewise reassures us to hold on …
to believe in destiny
and to let fate guide us on our journey
We are all willing victims to its wicked ploy
battling confusion, doubt, love and pain
with a fragile sword
‘tis we hang on to a flicker of hope,
‘cause we believe in destiny
and so it is, that I find this to be
the best explanation why I believe in you…
YOUR SONG
(from the book To Have and To Hold by June Cotner. Can be purchased at www.JuneCotner.com)
Your song sings always in me
even when you are silent,
even when you are away.
To me there is no sound
as soft as you,
no voice on earth
that gives my feet
such wings,
no whispered prayer
filled with so much promise.
Your voice is the pillow
on which I rest my heart,
the blanket with which
I warm my dreams,
the bed in which my soul
learns its nightly lesson
of everlasting love.
--Charles Ghigna
DEVOTED
(from the book To Have and To Hold by June Cotner. Can be purchased at www.JuneCotner.com)
My heart can be your home.
My soul can be your refuge.
You can turn to me when you are weak.
You can call to me when the way is not clear.
I will be your promise, your prayer, and I
will always be there.
Constant, complete.
Run to me, reach out for me and I will love
you in a unique and tender way.
Bring your love to me.
Share your love with me.
Sing your love to me, and I will give you
peace, ease and comfort.
--Lori Eberhardy
