Wedding Vows

You must have attended many wedding ceremonies through the years, as I have. Then we have all witnessed how the traditional vows have evolved. 

They used to be sacrosanct classics. No wedding vow would be complete without these words—“to have and to to hold; to love and obey; in sickness or in health; for richer or poorer; and till death do us part.” 

In this multi-polar world today, wedding vows are as varied as websites and URLs.

But no matter how differently worded, wedding vows express undying love. It is that part of the ceremony where the betrothed couple uses profuse superlatives but never accused as mushy; and guests shed copious tears but never branded as sappy. 

Marriage vows express so much love they make one forget wars, disasters, political upheavals, and other depressing news around the world. 

One such vow made me laugh and cry at the same time—and to this day, even as the bride and groom  already have three children, I remember the words fondly. This was the wedding of Pastor Ralph, our associate pastor then (now an officiating minister), and Shiela, a teacher in our church’s school. They have many things in common, one of which is asthma.  

My eyes misted when Pastor Ralph promised his bride, “I will let you use the nebulizer first, and I would give you my last nebule.”  

Shiela vowed, “And I promise to laugh at your jokes . . .” 

Beneath and beyond the wit and humor, the couple expressed the covenant of loving someone above self. 

Our Savior—bleeding, tired, in pain, and ridiculed on the cross—showed us what Eternal Love is, till His very last breath. “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16 NLT)  

 

From Him, we learned to love and to explicitly express it in wedding vows. 

Recalling my wedding vows now, I wonder, How have I demonstrated love through the years?