Readings (Page 6)
READING NO. 69
I Will Be Here by Steven Curtis Chapman

If in the morning when you wake,
If the sun does not appear,
I will be here.
If in the dark we lose sight of love,
Hold my hand and have no fear,
I will be here.

I will be here,
When you feel like being quiet,
When you need to speak your mind I will listen.
Through the winning, losing, and trying we’ll be together,
And I will be here.

If in the morning when you wake,
If the future is unclear,
I will be here.
As sure as seasons were made for change,
Our lifetimes were made for years,
I will be here.

I will be here,
And you can cry on my shoulder,
When the mirror tells us we’re older.
I will hold you, to watch you grow in beauty,
And tell you all the things you are to me.

We’ll be together and I will be here.
I will be true to the promises I’ve made,
To you and to the one who gave you to me.
I will be here.


READING NO. 70
Our Love by Bruce B. Wilmer

Our love is something we have built
From passions, hopes and dreams.
It's safe from any passing moods,
Secure from all extremes.
It's something real and special,
Something solid, something pure.
It's something we can always count on,
ringing sound and sure.
It's something grounded in the heart,
Emitting confidence.
It lives in our emotions;
It is something we can sense.
Our love remains a binding force,
Resistant to all strife.
Amidst the outer pressures,
it's our anchor throughout life.


READING NO. 71
Sooner or Later by Anon, 1st century China

Sooner or later we begin to understand
that love is more than verses on valentines,
and romance in the movies.
We begin to know that love is here and now, real and true,
the most important thing in our lives.
For love is the creator of our favourite memories
and the foundation of our fondest dreams.

Love is a promise that is always kept,
a fortune that can never be spent,
a seed that can flourish in even the most unlikely of places.
And this radiance that never fades,
this mysterious and magical joy, is the greatest treasure of
all -
one known only by those who love.


READING NO. 72
These I Can Promise

I cannot promise you a life of sunshine;
I cannot promise riches, wealth, or gold;
I cannot promise you an easy pathway
That leads away from change or growing old.

But I can promise all my heart's devotion;
A smile to chase away your tears of sorrow;
A love that's ever true and ever growing;
A hand to hold in yours through each tomorrow."


READING NO. 73
If You Can Always Be As Close by Larry S. Chengges

And as happy as today,
Yet be secure enough to grow
And change along the way.
If you can keep for you alone
Your love as man and wife,
Yet find the time to share your joy
With others in your life.
If you can be as one
And walk through marriage hand in hand,
Yet still support the goals and dreams
That each of you have planned.
If you can dare to always go
Your separate ways together,
Then all the wonder of today
Will stay with you forever.


READING NO. 74
A Lifetime of Love

The most ideal expression of love
is the joining in spirit of two people whose hearts are as one.

'Love……'

A word that promises so many happy tomorrows,
That gives meaning to everyday moments of sharing …..
That strengthens and supports in difficult times…..
That makes a commitment that never ends.
Today is the beginning of a whole new life together …
A life of special moments, shared with love….
Today is the beginning of countless bright tomorrows…..
Filled with all the special dreams you are dreaming of.
May the happiness you have found together be yours
throughout a lifetime of love.







READING NO. 75
"Love Is The Most Incredible Of All The Experiences That
Touch Our Lives"

It creates for us the world that we want to live in.
From the beginning of our lives,
we know that love is the power that comforts and protects
us;
It is the one feeling that we can depend upon
to help us through life’s ups and downs.
Love is the understanding and security that never changes;
It allows us to be ourselves and feel self confident.
Today, as the two of you join together and commit your love
to each other, remember the lessons of love that you have
always known.
Let your love comfort, support and encourage you.
Let your love be the best part of your lives;
Always know that it will make everything better
and it will make your world a place of happiness.


READING NO. 76
From "A Natural History Of Love", by Diane Ackerman

Love. What a small word we use for an idea so immense and
powerful. It has altered the flow of history, calmed monsters,
kindled works of art, cheered the forlorn, turned tough guys
to mush, consoled the enslaved, driven strong women mad,
glorified the humble, fueled national scandals, bankrupted
robber barons, and made mincemeat of kings. How can
love's spaciousness be conveyed in the narrow confines of
one syllable? Love is an ancient delirium, a desire older than
civilization, with taproots spreading into deep and
mysterious days. The heart is a living museum. In each of its
galleries, no matter how narrow or dimly lit, preserved
forever like wondrous diatoms, are our moments of loving,
and being loved.


READING NO. 77
Today I Married My Best Friend by Rachel Elizabeth Cooper
(b.1977)

Today I married my best friend,
Our bond complete, it hath no end,
We share one soul, we share one heart,
A perfect time - a perfect start.

With these rings we share together,
Love so close to last forever,
This special day - two special hearts,
Let nothing keep this love apart.



READING NO. 78
What We Would Wish For You

I cannot say what we would wish for you and your marriage.
All of your dreams in life are your own and shall be fluid,
ebbing and flowing from shore to shore
as you discover the nature of each success and
disappointment.
We cannot wish for you to know no sorrows in the years
ahead,
for to never know sorrow would mean that you would never
be blessed
with anything worth while.
We cannot wish for you a life without struggles,
for that would mean a life without achievement.
Yet we can wish that all the roads you travel
and the feelings experienced along the way
shall make your marriage stronger through the seasons.
That your home and your togetherness
shall forever remain a place of sanctuary and renewal
That you share more joys than sorrows  
And that your relationship continues to grow and endure
and inspire
Today we wish nothing more or less
than all that you hope and dream for yourselves.
And that it last for a lifetime.


READING NO. 79
From Love by Leo Buscaglia

In discussing love, it would be well to consider the following
premises:

One cannot give what he does not possess.
To give love you must possess love.

One cannot teach what he does not understand.
To teach love you must comprehend love.

One cannot know what he does not study..
To study love you must live in love.

One cannot appreciate what he does not recognize.
To recognize love you must be receptive to love.

One cannot have doubt about that which he wishes to
trust. To trust love you must be convinced of love.

One cannot admit what he does not yield to.
To yield to love you must be vulnerable to love.

One cannot live what he does not dedicate himself to.
To dedicate yourself to love you must be forever growing in
love.


READING NO. 80
Why Marriage?

Because to the depths of me, I long to love one person, with
all my heart, my soul, my mind, my body.

Because I need a forever friend to trust with the intimacies of
me, who won’t hold them against me, who loves me when I
am unlikable, who sees the small child in me, and looks for
the divine potential of me.

Because I need to cuddle in the warmth of the night with
someone who is thankful, with someone I feel blessed to
hold.

Because marriage means opportunity to grow in love and
friendship.

Because, knowing this, I promise myself to take full
responsibility for my spiritual, mental, and physical
wholeness, I create me, I take half of the responsibility for my
marriage together we create our marriage.

Because with this understanding the possibilities are
limitless.



READING NO. 81
From "A Gift from the Sea" by Anne Morrow Lindberg

When you love someone, you do not love them all the time in
exactly the same way, from moment to moment. It is an
impossibility, it is even a lie to pretend to. And yet this is
exactly what most of us demand. We have so little faith in the
ebb and flow of life, of love, of relationships. We leap at the
flow of the tide and resist in terror its ebb. We are afraid it will
never return. We insist on permanency, on duration, on
continuity; when the only continuity possible in life as in
love, is in growth, in fluidity, in freedom. In the sense that the
dancers are free, barely touching as they pass, but partners
in the same pattern.

The only real security is not in owning or possessing, not in
demanding or expecting, not in hoping, even. Security in a
relationship lies neither in looking back to what it was in
nostalgia, nor forward to what it might be in dread or
anticipation, but living in the present relationship and
accepting as it is now. For relationships, too, must be like
islands, one must accept them for what they are here and
now, within their limits - islands, surrounded and interrupted
by the sea, and continually visited and abandoned by the
tides. One must accept the security of the winged life, of the
ebb and flow of intermittency.


READING NO. 82
i carry your heart with me, by ee cummings


i carry your heart with me (i carry it in my heart)
i am never without it (anywhere i go you go, my dear; and
whatever is done by only me is your doing, my darling)
i fear no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet)
i want no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud and the
sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows higher than
the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)


READING NO. 83
Cries of the Spirit (Carter Heyward)

"Loving involves commitment. We are not automatic lovers
of self, others, world, or God. Love does not just happen. We
are not love machines, puppets on the strings of a deity
called "love". Love is a choice -- not simply, or necessarily, a
rational choice, but rather a willingness to be present to
others without pretence or guile. Love is a conversion to
humanity -- a willingness to participate with others in the
healing of a broken world and broken lives. Love is the
choice to experience life as a member of the human family, a
partner in the dance of life, rather than as an alien in the
world or as a deity above the world, aloof and apart from
human flesh."


READING NO. 84
The Art of a Good Marriage
Happiness in marriage is not something that just happens. A
good marriage must be created. In the art of marriage, the
little things are big things…
It is never being too old to hold hands.
It is remembering to say "I love you" at least once a day.
It is never going to sleep angry.
It is never taking the other for granted; the courtship should
not end with the honeymoon, it should continue through all
the years.
It is having a mutual sense of values and common objectives.

It is standing together to face the world.
It is forming a circle of love that gathers in the whole family.
It is doing things for each other, not in the attitude of duty or
sacrifice, but in the spirit of joy.
It is speaking words of appreciation and demonstrating
gratitude in thoughtful ways.
It is not expecting the husband to wear a halo or the wife to
have the wings of an angel.
It is not looking for perfection in each other.
It is cultivating flexibility, patience, understanding and a
sense of humor.
It is having the capacity to forgive and forget.
It is giving each other an atmosphere in which each can
grow.
It is finding room for the things of the spirit.
It is a common search for the good and the beautiful.
It is establishing a relationship in which the independence is
equal, dependence is mutual, and the obligation is reciprocal.

It is not only marrying the right partner, it is being the right
partner.
Hudson Valley Ceremonies