You have known each other from the first glance of acquaintance to this point of commitment. It is on this love that the engine of marriage is run: being in love was the explosion that started it. 'Being in love' first moved them to promise fidelity: This quieter love enables them to keep the promise. They can retain this love even when each would easily, if they allowed themselves, be 'in love' with someone else. They can have this love for each other even at those moments when they do not like each other as you love yourself even when you do not like yourself. It is a deep unity, maintained by the will and deliberately strengthened by habit reinforced by grace which both partners ask, and receive. Love in this second sense-love as distinct from 'being in love'-is not merely a feeling. Who could bear to live in that excitement for even five years? What would become of your work, your appetite, your sleep, your friendships? But, of course, ceasing to be 'in love' need not mean ceasing to love. If the old fairy-tale ending 'They lived happily ever after' is taken to mean 'They felt for the next fifty years exactly as they felt the day before they were married,' then it says what probably never was nor ever would be true, and would be highly undesirable if it were. This we ask through Jesus Christ, great Lover of our souls.Ģ8 of 35 A Passage From "A Year " With C.S. May they serve Thee happily, faithfully, together, until at last one shall lay the other into the arms of God. When life is done and the sun is setting, may they be found then as now, hand in hand, still thanking God for each other. May they never take each other's love for granted, but always experience that breathless wonder that exclaims, "Out of all this world, you have chosen me." May they seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and the other things shall be added unto them. Give them great spiritual purpose in life. Teach them that marriage is not living merely for each other it is two uniting and joining hands to serve Thee. Give her that inner beauty of soul that never fades, that eternal youth that is found in holding fast the things that never age. Giver her tenderness that will make her great, a deep sense of understanding, and a great faith in Thee. May his strength be her protection, his character be her boast and her pride, and may he so live that she will find in him the haven for which the heart of woman truly longs.īless this loving wife. Bless him as provider of nourishment and raiment, and sustain him in all the exactions and pressures of his battle for bread. Thine was the plan, and only with Thee can we work it out with joy.īless this husband. O God of love, Thou has established marriage for the welfare and happiness of mankind. 01 of 35 Marriage Prayer for Bride and Groom
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