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Wedding Reading #33: Never Marry But For Love, by William Penn
Never marry but for love; but see that thou lovest what is lovely. He that minds a body and not a soul has not the better part of that relationship, and will consequently lack the noblest comfort of a married life. Between a man and his wife nothing ought rule but love. As love ought to bring them together, so it is the best way to keep them well together. A husband and wife that love one another show their children that they should do so too. Others visibly lose their authority in their families by their contempt of one another, and teach their children to be unnatural by their own examples. Let not enjoyment lessen, but augment, affection; it being the basest of passions to like when we have not, what we slight when we possess. Here it is we ought to search out our pleasure, where the field is large and full of variety, and of an enduring nature; sickness, poverty or disgrace being not able to shake it because it is not under the moving influences of worldly contingencies. Nothing can be more entire and without reserve; nothing more zealous, affectionate and sincere; nothing more contented than such a couple, nor greater temporal felicity than to be one of them. Wedding Reading #34: To Be One With Each Other, by 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 each other in all sorrow, to share with each other in all gladness, to be one with each other in the silent unspoken memories? Wedding Reading #35: Somewhere, by Sir Edwin Arnold Somewhere there waiteth in this world of ours for one lone soul, another lonely soul - Each chasing each through all the weary hours, And meeting strangely at one sudden goal; Then blend they - like green leaves with golden flowers, Into one beautiful and perfect whole - And life's long night is ended, and the way Lies open onward to eternal day. Wedding Reading #36: Perfection, by David Kirk Perhaps perfection seems too bold A word here to apply. For once love penetrates the heart, It spreads to cloud the eye. Still we in blindness take a chance And gladly join in Cupid's dance. For every joyful heart has shown, Perfection dwells in love alone. |
Wedding Reading #37: Blessing for a Marriage, by James Dillet Freeman
May your marriage bring you all the exquisite excitement marriage should bring, and may life grant you also patience, tolerance, and understanding. May you always need one another - not so much to fill your emptiness as to help you to know your fullness. A mountain needs a valley to be complete; the valley does not make the mountain less, but more; and the valley is more a valley because it has a mountain towering over it. May you need one another, but not out of weakness. May you want one another, but not out of lack. May you entice one another, but not compel one another. May you embrace one another, but not out encircle one another. May you succeed in all important ways with one another, and not fail in the little graces. May you look for things to praise, often say, "I love you!" and take no notice of small faults. If you have quarrels that push you apart, may both of you hope to have good sense enough to take the first step back. May you enter into the mystery which is the awareness of one another's presence - no more physical than spiritual, warm and near when you are side by side, and warm and near when you are in separate rooms or even distant cities. May you have happiness, and may you find it making one another happy. May you have love, and may you find it loving one another. Wedding Reading #38: See What Flowers Are At My Feet, by John Keats See what flowers are at my feet, What soft incense hangs upon the boughs, Wherewith the seasonable mouth endows The grass, the thicket, and the fruit-tree wild; White hawthorne, fast-fading violets And the coming musk-rose, full of dewy wine, The murmurous haunts of summer eves. Wedding Reading #39: From This Day Forward, by Marianne Williamson From this day forward, You shall not walk alone. My heart will be your shelter, And my arms will be your home. |
