NO GREATER LOVE

Last Saturday, March 22nd, I performed the marriage ceremony for a couple from Arizona.  It was for just the two of them.  They wanted to just focus on each other and not have the celebration of the moment when they would be united in legal marriage be diluted by sharing it with family and friends.   And as I did the ceremony, I experienced the heights and depths, the lengths and breath of a divine love like I have never experienced in my 20 years of marrying couples.    The ring the groom used to marry his bride belonged to his great grandmother who lived 150 years ago.   My company provided a cake table for their cake and champagne for pictures of them cutting the cake and making their toast for their future, and the bride had brought the cake topper that her grandmother had on her cake.  Her grandmother is still alive and is 99 years old.   They wanted to include the life-streams of these great matriarchs of their past in the ceremony.  And the bride and the groom prepared personal statements to read to one another, and I asked them if I could include them here on my blog for all to experience, and they said Yes.  So here they are:

The groom's personal statement:   My Love, I will love you forever.  I will love you during tough times and through the good times.  I will cherish every moment we have, every time we laugh together, every time we cry together.  I will support everything that you do and cheer you on when you start to lose motivation.  I will love you forever.  I will listen to all of your dreams, your hopes, your goals and your fears.  And I will communicate to you all of my dreams, hopes, goals and fears.  I will be your lover, your best friend, and your partner forever.  I will fight for you, I will die for you, I will love you forever.  I will never let anyone or anything get between us.  I will spend the rest of my life with you.  I thank God everyday that you are in my life.  I will never stop cherishing you.  I will love you forever, and ever.

Bride's personal statement: My dearest husband, when I look into your eyes, I see my soulmate.  You are the only person I trust implictly with my whole self.  I see my past life with you, and I see this lifetime with you.  Our souls have been together many times before and we are now here together again.  When you touch me, I know love.  I am deeply grateful for the tenderness, affection, compassion, patience, and effort you give to me everyday.  I promise to stay by your side, and fight every battle with you, hold your hand through any medical issue that comes our way and partner with you so we can help each other to be the parents and team we want to be for our children who will be joining us.  I promise that I will always comfort you, and love you just as you are.  I promise to challenge you and help you grow, and I promise that I will always help you find daily joy and laughter, even if it's just by poking fun at myself.  I promise that for the rest of my life, I will do all I can so that you feel loved and cherished, because you are my sweet treasure from God --- you are the answer to my prayer.