The Face of Love

 

The noisy buzz of the crowd quieted quickly and a hush fell on the room. Music, once softly playing in the background, changed its intensity and directed everybody’s attention towards the wide antique doors opening in the back of the church. The beat of my heart rose dramatically when everybody stood to their feet. Their heads straining to see what I could easily see…beauty was coming
to me.

There she was, pausing—as to drink in the moment—then taking the arm of her father, she started down the aisle. The young bride kept pace with the music but there was an urgency and purpose in her steps. A slight sideward glance their way, is all she would gamble as she passed each row of smiling family and friends. All her attention…all her focus…was on me.

As we joined hands and spoke vows, basking in the beauty of covenant expressions of commitment…I realized something.

I was staring deeply into the face of love.

Thirty years later and I still am. Her beauty, the way she lights up when she sees me, covers her face with love…and she drives me crazy (in a good way) whenever she looks my way. Thirty years of looking and staring into each other’s face is a long time…and it’s not enough. I sneak peeks of my wife when she sleeps; I try to catch her attention at gatherings and parties, just to see her face…the face of love. I love her face, the gentleness I see there, the absolute grace and beauty I see in her eyes, changes the man I am. I need the way she sees me, the man she sees is much more than I dreamt I could be.

That’s the face of love

Tomorrow June 5^th is our 30^th anniversary. Our plans for celebration are simple ones but I know I get the best part of the deal…I get to look into that wonderful, sweet and beautiful face of Christine Marie Cookingham.

The face of love is mine

“Whosoever findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the LORD.”  Proverbs 18:22

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