Complete Book of Wedding Vows (41 page)

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"____________________, ours has been a fairy tale love story...from that first day we met until this very moment, our love has been one to be envied. We have been partners who grew more and more in love each day as we journeyed through life together. Our children have been the fruit of our love, and our grandchildren as well. We have a lifetime of shared memories, shared joys, shared sorrows, and our love has soared above it all. Today, as we renew our wedding vows before our beloved friends and family, I do so as an expression of how much I love and adore you. Ours is a love story destined to continue until death do us part."

"As we stand here today renewing our wedding vows, I recall our wedding day so well. We were so young, so hopeful, so full of dreams. And most of our dreams have come true...but not all. And the disappointments hurt more than we thought they would, didn't they? And yet, our good times together were even better than we expected. If I could have known then what I know now, would I have married you? Oh, yes, most certainlyand with the same joy and commitment I feel today as I promise to be your devoted and faithful husband / wife for whatever years we have left in this life."

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Up Close and Personal

It was another one of those high school sweetheart things. She was a cheerleader and one of the prettiest girls in the school, and he was the quarterback of the football team and popular with everyone on campus. Because this couple has asked to remain anonymous, I will call them Jim and Mary. Mary was two years younger than Jim, so he graduated and was off to college ahead of her. Their relationship held, however, as their tender love letters flew back and forth and he drove home to see her on weekends as often as he could; that is, if he could get his old Plymouth up and running.

Mary graduated from high school in June of 1955 and they were married that August. They moved into a married couples' dorm at Jim's university and he finally graduated with a B.A. in psychology that he had planned to use in a teaching career. After his graduation, however, their future took an abrupt turn as they accepted a call to become home missionaries to a tribe of American Indians on a reservation in Arizona. This decision set the course for the rest of their married lives; their missionary service was followed eventually by full-time service in the pastoral ministry, often depending on the uneven financial support of their congregations. Jim is presently serving, however, as the salaried senior pastor of a large church in California.

Last summer Jim and Mary's four children planned an elaborate reaffirmation ceremony for their parents' 40th wedding anniversary and my husband and I were invited to attend. Other than the 25th anniversary ceremony of Barbara Mandrell and her husband, which I had watched on television, I had never seen a full-fledged reaffirmation wedding ceremony with all the trimmings. Jim and Mary's service was held in the elegantly decorated sanctuary of

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the church they pastored and Mary was given away by her older brother. Their children served as their attendants, their grandsons as ushers and their young granddaughters as bell ringers (girls who travel up and down the aisles ringing delicate crystal bells to announce the beginning of the ceremony).

Their children, who are gifted singers and musicians, provided the music and their eldest daughter made a professional-looking three-tiered wedding cake, complete with Jim and Mary's original bride-and-groom cake topper that had been carefully packed away for 40 years.

The minister who had married them in 1955 came out of retirement to conduct the service and wrote these personalized vows that reflected the couple's life of sacrificial service to God and to each other:

Minister: "When I married you on that August afternoon in 1955, you had no idea what God had in store for you: your service as missionaries under very difficult circumstances, often doing without the necessities of life as you depended on the love offerings of others for your survival. When you took your wedding vows that day you promised to love each other whether 'richer or poorer,' and you kept that vow as you remained true to each other and true to your Lord through those difficult times. Your circumstances required great faith, and your faith never wavered. I know you count all your hardships as sheer joy, however, because of the blessings He has given you: four children who love and respect you; nine adoring grandchildren; and much fruit in your ministry.

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