At one of my weddings this weekend, Rachel and Adam chose this wonderful reading that I had not heard before and I wanted to add it to the collection on the blog … a lot of wisdom here!

Excerpt from: “The Law of Unconditional Loving”
by Greg Anderson
From: The 22 {Non-Negotiable} Laws of Wellness

“The greatest pursuit is not good health, unsurpassed wisdom, economic surplus, political freedom, or even faith that can move mountains. It is the daily practice of the greatest of the non-negotiable laws of wellness, the Law of Unconditional Loving. Unconditional, nonjudgmental loving. This is our aim, life’s single highest and most rewarding pursuit… The highest expression of Divine Design is applied love found in loving relationships between people. Not the erotic love we see on television…but love rooted in a decision to serve. It is a dynamic state of consciousness, a giving, creative flow, and a harmony. It’s an acceptance of the human condition as perfectly imperfect. And it is a choice to love without regard to any conditions; no “ifs” are allowed in this, the greatest of laws.”

I‘ve heard this poem at many weddings over the years, but for some reason when I heard it at Hilary and Jeff’s ceremony this evening it really struck me as so beautiful (it could be that the person who read it did a really excellent job, that can make a big difference!)… and as I was listening I decided that I wanted to come right home and put it up on the blog for you.
Enjoy!

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)

I discovered this reading through a colleague of mine in New York City and I am completely in love with it… I hope one day one of my couples will choose it for their ceremony .

The Archipelago of Kisses

by Jeffrey McDaniel

We live in a modern society.
Husbands and wives don’t grow on trees, like in the old days.
So where does one find love?
When you’re sixteen it’s easy,
like being unleashed with a credit card
in a department store of kisses.
There’s the first kiss.
The sloppy kiss. The peck. The sympathy kiss.
The backseat smooch. The we shouldn’t be doing this kiss.
The but your lips taste so good kiss.
The bury me in an avalanche of tingles kiss.
The I wish you’d quit smoking kiss.
The I accept your apology,
but you make me really mad sometimes kiss.
The I know your tongue like the back of my hand kiss.
As you get older, kisses become scarce.
You’ll be driving home and see a damaged kiss
on the side of the road, with its purple thumb out.
If you were younger, you’d pull over,
slide open the mouth’s red door just to see how it fits.
Oh where does one find love?
If you rub two glances, you get a smile.
Rub two smiles, you get a warm feeling.
Rub two warm feelings and presto-you have a kiss.
Now what? Don’t invite the kiss over
and answer the door in your underwear.
It’ll get suspicious and stare at your toes.
Don’t water the kiss with whiskey.
It’ll turn bright pink and explode
into a thousand luscious splinters,
but in the morning it’ll be ashamed
and sneak out of your body without saying good-bye,
and you’ll remember that kiss forever
by all the little cuts it left on the inside of your mouth.
You must nurture the kiss. Turn out the lights.
Notice how it illuminates the room.
Hold it to your chest and wonder
if the sand inside hourglasses comes from a special beach.
Place it on the tongue’s pillow,
then look up the first recorded kiss in an encyclopedia:
beneath a Babylonian olive tree in 1200 B.C.
But one kiss levitates above all the others.
The intersection of function and desire. The I do kiss.
The I’ll love you through a brick wall kiss.
Even when I’m dead, I’ll swim through the Earth,
like a mermaid of the soil, just to be next to your bones.”

I heard this as a reading at a wedding this fall and thought it was very sweet!

It’s You I Like

by Fred Rogers

It’s you I like,
It’s not the things you wear,
It’s not the way you do your hair–
But it’s you I like
The way you are right now,
The way down deep inside you–
Not the things that hide you,

Not your toys–
They’re just beside you.
But it’s you I like–
Every part of you,
Your skin, your eyes, your feelings
Whether old or new.

I hope that you’ll remember
Even when you’re feeling blue
That it’s you I like,
It’s you yourself,
It’s you, it’s you I like.

I haven’t shared a ceremony reading on the blog in some time so, today I thought I would share one that I like very much and hope you will too… it’s not long but has a lovely sentiment…

THE MOST WONDERFUL OF ALL THINGS IN LIFE

~ By Sir Hugh Walpole ~

The most wonderful of all things in life is the discovery of another human being with whom one’s relationship has a growing depth, beauty and joy as the years increase. This inner progressiveness of love between two human beings is a most marvelous thing; it cannot be found by looking for it or by passionately wishing for it. It is a sort of divine accident, and the most wonderful of all things in life.

How do I love thee?

~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning ~

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with a passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, — I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! — and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

This evening I had the very special honor of, not only officiating at Alissa & Jeff’s wonderful wedding but also of sharing a reading… and now I want to share it with you too:

The Master Speed

~ by Robert Frost ~

No speed of wind or water rushing by
But you have speed far greater. You can climb
Back up a stream of radiance to the sky,
And back through history up the stream of time.
And you were given this swiftness, not for haste,
Nor chiefly that you may go where you will,
But in the rush of everything to waste,
That you may have the power of standing still?
Off any still or moving thing you say.
Two such as you with such a master speed
Cannot be parted nor be swept away
From one another once you are agreed
That life is only life forevermore
Together wing to wing and oar to oar.

~ The Key to Love ~

by Anon, 1st Century BC, China

The key to love is understanding …
The ability to comprehend not only the spoken word,
but those unspoken gestures,
the little things that say so much by themselves.

The key to love is forgiveness ….
to accept each others faults and pardon mistakes,
without forgetting, but with remembering
what you learn from them.

The key to love is sharing …
Facing your good fortunes as well as the bad, together;
both conquering problems, forever searching for ways
to intensify your happiness.

The key to love is giving …
without thought of return,
but with the hope of just a simple smile,
and by giving in but never giving up.

The key to love is respect …
realizing that you are two separate people,
with different ideas; that you don’t belong to each other,
that you belong with each other, and share a mutual bond.

The key to love is inside us all …
It takes time and patience to unlock all the ingredients
that will take you to its threshold;
it is the continual learning process
that demands a lot of work …
but the rewards are more than worth the effort …
and that is the key to love.

Union

by Robert Fulghum

You have known each other from the first glance of acquaintance to this point of commitment. At some point, you decided to marry. From that moment of yes, to this moment of yes, indeed, you have been making commitments in an informal way. All of those conversations that were held in a car, or over a meal, or during long walks – all those conversations that began with, “When we’re married”, and continued with “I will” and “you will” and “we will” – all those late night talks that included “someday” and “somehow” and “maybe” – and all those promises that are unspoken matters of the heart. All these common things, and more, are the real process of a wedding.

The symbolic vows that you are about to make are a way of saying to one another, “You know all those things that we’ve promised, and hoped, and dreamed – well, I meant it all, every word.”

Look at one another and remember this moment in time. Before this moment you have been many things to one another – acquaintance, friend, companion, lover, dancing partner, even teacher, for you have learned much from one another these past few years. Shortly you shall say a few words that will take you across a threshold of life, and things between you will never quite be the same.

For after today you shall say to the world –
This is my husband. This is my wife.

I‘d never heard these lyrics used as a wedding reading until a couple I married last weekend, Kristina & Robert, chose to have them read by the bride’s good friend as part of their ceremony. I loved it and wanted to share it with my readers… enjoy! And, if you’d like to hear the original song go here.

Excerpt from “Wedding Song” by Bob Dylan:

I love you more than ever, more than time and more than love,
I love you more than money and more than the stars above,
Love you more than madness, more than waves upon the sea,
Love you more than life itself, you mean that much to me.

You breathed on me and made my life a richer one to live,
When I was deep in poverty you taught me how to give,
Dried the tears up from my dreams and pulled me from the hole,
Quenched my thirst and satisfied the burning in my soul.

The tune that is yours and mine to play upon this earth,
We’ll play it out the best we know, whatever it is worth,
What’s lost is lost, we can’t regain what went down in the flood,
But happiness to me is you and I love you more than blood.

It’s never been my duty to remake the world at large,
Nor is it my intention to sound a battle charge,
‘Cause I love you more than all of that with a love that doesn’t bend,
And if there is eternity I’d love you there again.

Oh, can’t you see that you were born to stand by my side
And I was born to be with you, you were born to be my bride,
You’re the other half of what I am, you’re the missing piece
And I love you more than ever with that love that doesn’t cease.

You turn the tide on me each day and teach my eyes to see,
Just bein’ next to you is a natural thing for me
And I could never let you go, no matter what goes on,
‘Cause I love you more than ever now that the past is gone.

If you’re planning a wedding in the Charlottesville area, the Charlottesville Wedding Directory will make your life so much easier… check it out… and happy wedding planning!