Young Love... The Way Of Love....

We attended our young couple friends wedding this last weekend. It was beautiful. 

Are you the type to cry at weddings?

I do. I am such an emotional case... 

I cry to everything...movies, births, deaths, weddings, sad times

and happy moments.

I am a cry baby okay!!!

I sat there watching this young couple exchange their vows,

tears running down my face, thoughts taking me back to my

own wedding day 16 years ago. Maybe not that long ago

to some, but just looking at how things have changed...

and matured over the years.

Young and in love we were...Just wanting to get married..

because...we loved each other so.

Learning to live together...sharing and giving.

  Gaining big responsibilities and learning that you are no longer just you anymore!

  Our faith grows...Blessings overflow...

Then the children come. A lot of growth, a lot of praying, 

learning patience, and sacrifice.

There is hope.

You grow even closer together, the years pass, the love grows.

Even though there may be spats and misunderstandings here and there,

they are small tests to show you that you need God. 

Love Bears all things.

You make up and you love each other even more than you did before.

That was us!

That is us!

To have that young love again, the butterflies in the stomach

the achy heart that pitter patters... I would have to say..... 

No!

It was sweet at the time...

But through the years I have spent with my true love I confess, 

I am more in love with him today than I had been 16 years ago. 

I believe that our faith and years of  experience gave

  us wisdom and knowledge of what the truest love is.

Without God, there is no love.

I am praying that our friends will have the same experience as we have.

I pray that their love will grow!

~1 Corinthians 13~

*****

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love,

I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  

And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 

If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned,  but have not love, I gain nothing. 

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;  it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, 

but rejoices with the truth.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.  For we know in part and we prophesy in part,  but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Going To The Chapel....

What a blessing it was to join our two close, sweet friends John & Nancy as the vowed their love before God, family & friends this weekend. They are two very special people in our lives whom we have spent much time with. It has been a lovely journey watching their love for one another grow, their engagement... and now their Wedding day. I pray they will love the Lord, love each other and have a happy life together... Oh !!! and maybe a few kiddos in the near future !!

My dear friend Nancy was a beautiful bride who had a glow about her the entire day !! I am in awe of their love and devotion for one another and their faith in Christ. I am so very proud of them. We are truly blessed to have their friendship.

May God bless you both !!

*****************************

Marriage Prayer

Father in heaven,

You ordained marriage for your children,

and you gave us love.

We present to You Nancy and John,

who come this day to be married.

May the covenant of love they make be blessed

with true devotion and spiritual commitment.

We ask that You, God,

will give them the ability to keep the covenant they have made.

When selfishness shows itself, grant generosity;

when mistrust is a temptation, give moral strength;

when there is misunderstanding, give patience and gentleness;

if suffering becomes a part of their lives,

give them a strong faith and an abiding love.

Amen.

Wedding Prayer
Robert Louis Stevenson
Lord, behold our family here assembled.

We thank you for this place in which we dwell,

for the love that unites us,

for the peace accorded us this day,

for the hope with which we expect the morrow,

for the health, the work, the food,

and the bright skies that make our lives delightful;

for our friends in all parts of the earth.

Amen.

A Good Wedding Cake
Author Unknown

4 lb. of love.

1 lb. butter of youth.

1/2 lb. of good looks.

l lb. sweet temper.

1 lb. of blindness for faults.

1 lb. of self forgetfulness.

l lb. of pounded wit.

l lb. of good humour.

2 tablespoons of sweet argument.

1 pint of rippling laughter.

1 wine glass of common sense.

1 oz. modesty.

Put the love, good looks and sweet temper into a well furnished house.

Beat the butter of youth to a cream, and mix well together with the blindness of faults.

Stir the pounded wit and good humour into the sweet argument, then add the rippling laughter and common sense.

Work the whole together until everything is well mixed, and bake gently for ever.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7
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.

The Prayer
St. Francis of Assisi

Lord, make us instruments of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let us sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is discord, union;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

Where there is sadness, joy;

O Divine Master, Grant that we may not so much seek

To be consoled as to console,

To be understood as to understand,

To be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen.