We end our day with prayer and a blessing for the couples.
Beloved bride to be:
Please take your fiancé’s hands, palms up, in yours, and look at them. These are the hands, young and strong and vibrant with love that will hold yours on your wedding day, as he promises to love you all the days of his life. These are the hands that, God willing, you will place with expectant joy beneath your heart one day until he too feels his child stir within your womb. These are the hands that look so large and clumsy now, yet will be so gentle when he holds your baby for the first time. These are the hands that will work long hours to earn money for you and your family. These are the hands that will get nicked and bruised from fixing things around the house to make you more comfortable. These are the hands that will caress your body throughout the years to make the passion of love come alive in you. These are the hands that will countless times wipe tears from your eyes, tears of sorrow and tears of joy. These are the hands that will comfort you in illness and hold you when fear or grief wracks your mind. These are the hands that will tenderly lift your chin and brush your cheek as they raise your face to look into his eyes, eyes that will be filled with his overwhelming love and desire for you.
Beloved groom to be:
Please take your fiancé’s hands in yours, palms up, in yours, and look at them. These are the hands that will hold yours as she gives you her pledge to love you, and accepts your ring, on your wedding day. These are the hands that are smooth and young and carefree now, but will become lined and rougher in the years ahead from doing things to make you more comfortable. These are the hands that, God willing, will hold you in joy and excitement, each time she says you are to have another child, that together you have created a new life. These are the hands that will hold each child in tender love, soothing them through illness, disciplining them, diapering them, baking for them, praying for them and wringing themselves in worry when trouble comes. Perhaps, these are the hands that will comfort you when you are told you can not have a child and convince you that you can create new life in other ways. These are the hands that through the years will caress your body in the passion of love. These are the hands that will tenderly hold your face and wipe tears from your eyes, in wonder and awe that you would cry for you.
God Bless These Hands