Lenten Confessions:
"To love, honor
and cherish". How many times have we heard this phrase in one way or
another? Have you been fortunate enough to have been able to say these words to
the person you love? Of all the versions of vows that I've heard, out of all the
rephrasing, these words are conveyed each time in some fashion. It's these
words that I remember as the basis of my vows. Forget the "for richer or
poorer, in sickness and in health...". Those conditional additives are not
the foundation of the vow. The
foundation is LOVE, HONOR, CHERISH. No matter what the circumstances, these
verbs, full of power and emotion, will lead you along the path of God. They do
not however end with your death. If they did then we would not have the love of
Jesus, honor his teachings and cherishing memories.
In some religious
communities nuns were rings to signify their commitment to Christ. They "marry" Jesus. A wedding ring
is a very important symbol of our lives shown to us in a simplistic form. A
ring is an imperfect circle. Through time, wear and tear mold the ring to
include divots, bends, warps. Each one of these manipulations is representative
of our trials and tribulations of our commitment to the person to whom we
married. Yet the ring is still a never ending circle. The circle is a closed
curve, ever folding inward upon itself. A hug is a circle in theory, arms
stretched to envelope someone and draw them toward the center, close to your
heart. A ring signifies the evolutionary cycle of ups and downs. Often viewed
as top and bottom, a ring rotated reverses the top to the bottom and the bottom to the top
without changing form and often unnoticed. Our commitment to others is a
circle, with ups and downs, and when viewed from different angles, the ups are
downs and the downs are ups.
On August 20, 1983 I
gave a ring to the person that I love, honor, and cherish. I had met this
person less than three years earlier but knew within the first 2 from that
meeting I knew that this was the person to whom I would be committed. Almost 30
years later that commitment still exists. Like a ring, we have had our ups and
downs, but each time we complete the circle to love, honor and cherish. I am
proud to have Trudy become, not a part of, but my whole life. It is by the
Grace of God that we are reminded of our commitment to one another.
God LOVES us. God
HONORS us. God CHERISHES us and so should we in return. We should love, honor
and cherish God. For it is only by God that we are able to participate in these
actions. These actions follow, as Jesus has taught us, the greatest commandment,
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and
with all your mind." To quote an old cliché, "Love makes the world go
round". Let there be love around the world. Learn to honor and cherish
that love. Reach out to God as God has always been reaching to you, with a hug,
completing the circle, drawing one another closer to our hearts.
May the grace of God
be received by all.
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