Jul 05 2008

What Love Is, and Is Not: Celebrating a marriage

Category: love,marriageharmonicminer @ 12:00 pm

Yesterday, I watched my daughter marry a fine young man. So now, in addition to being a patriotic holiday and my mother’s birthday, July 4 is my daughter’s wedding anniversary.

I’m proud of the happy couple, and hope and pray the best for them, as well as the strength to weather times of trial and challenge. Part of the ceremony involved the pastor reading from the first letter of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians, 1st Corinthians 13, sometimes known as “the love chapter.” Among the portions he read were verses 4-7.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Sitting in the front row as father of the bride, I was close enough to clearly see the groom’s face, in a way not many could. As the pastor read, I realized that the husband-to-be was reciting the words with the pastor, very subtly, not making sounds, barely moving his lips, just enough so that I could see he knew the passage by heart. Even two rows back, I think I would not have known. I’m not even certain he knew his lips were moving, ever so slightly.

I think my daughter is very fortunate to have married a man who values these words enough to commit them to memory. It will probably not hurt any of us to remind ourselves of just how love behaves…. and how it doesn’t.

Congratulations and best wishes to the newlyweds!

Disneyland 4th of July fireworks

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6 Responses to “What Love Is, and Is Not: Celebrating a marriage”

  1. michael lee says:

    congratulations to the couple, and to the new father-in-law!

    I remember sitting down with my father-in-law when I asked for Gretchen’s hand in marriage, and having to draw up a budget for him, detailing how I made my living in music. It was … intense.

    You didn’t do anything cruel like that, did you?

  2. harmonicminer says:

    Nah, I asked him if he knew what he was getting into. Like, did it matter to him if she never did the dishes?

    17 hours after the honeymoon, the new bride called me with a question about the vacuum cleaner… a good sign, I hope.

    Now, in your case, Mike, I can understand the suspicious father-in-law to be… you’re a MUSICIAN after all, about two notches above drug dealer/pimp. Well… maybe three notches.

  3. michael lee says:

    “ABOVE” did you say?

  4. harmonicminer says:

    Well… not to be too judgmental or anything. Besides, I’m talking about myself, too, and I’m not exactly a musical pimp… I just WORK for them.

  5. Kira says:

    I know this is really late in coming, (several months late in fact) 😀 but I just realized Anthony hasn’t seen this yet. I was skimming through some old posts, and saw this.

    After I had finished reading this to him, he said, “Wow. Your dad noticed that? That’s.. (pauses for a sec) really pretty cool. I memorized that verse when I was a small boy.”

    And yes, the house cleaning is primarily my job, and believe it or not, it does get done. 😀 Cleaning up after 2 people is much different than cleaning up after 5. 😉

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