Billy Coffey
Billy Coffey

Love made visible

July 8, 2009  

Love has always intrigued me as one of those divine aspects of life that is both fleeting and permanent, fragile and strong. For thousands of years Poets and philosophers have tried to define it, but to no avail. You can’t speak about love and get it just right. You have to see it in action to really know what it is.

Which is why I can appreciate the spectacle of a fine wedding.

I’m sitting in a church pew on a bright Sunday afternoon looking very James Bondish in a suit and tie. Because what I expect to see in the next fifteen minutes or so is not just a marriage ceremony, not just candles and pretty music and maids all in a row, but true love made visible.

The groom stands at the front of the church, hands folded in front of his cummerbund. He is not nervous, this man. There are no pre-wedding jitters or thoughts of a quick escape through the side door. No, he knows exactly what he’s doing. Not marrying this woman never crossed his mind.

The organist launches into a fevered rendition of “Here Comes the Bride,” and the gathered stand and turn to face the opening doors. A beaming bride and her proud father make their way down the aisle.

Hand in hand. Not just out of love, but out of necessity.

The father passes off his princess to her prince, and the two stand facing one another. I’m sure they have spent many moments over the past weeks staring into each other’s eyes, wrestling in their own way with the prospect of this moment. And though they are surrounded by God and a few hundred friends and family, I can tell that to them no one else exists. The world has been shut out and the door barred.

There is just them and nothing else. For now, anyway.

The preacher begins the standard reading of 1 Corinthians 13. I wonder how many times I’ve heard that scripture read. How many times those words have skidded over the surface of my heart but not really plunged to its core.

Love is patient, love is kind…

They’ve known one another for about four years now, this bride and groom. About a year and a half ago over a nice dinner picnic in the park, he pulled out a diamond ring along with the potato salad. Marry me, he asked. Yes! she answered.

…love does not brag and is not arrogant…

That their love was pure and true was unquestioned. God had crafted them as the only two pieces of a beautiful puzzle. It was cliché, yes, but true—they completed one another.

Both knew they didn’t deserve such happiness. But both praised God daily for allowing them to have it. And now that they had found each other, they would be together always.

…bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things…

When you’re in love, everything seems possible. There are no sudden bends in the road ahead, no ruts to fall into. There are only clear paths and sunny skies. Whatever darkness your life was under is now bathed in sunny skies.

And it’s true. Everything is possible.

Not just the good. The bad, too.

When the bride began suffering headaches a few months ago, the doctors told her it was likely migraines. Don’t worry, they said. Just the stress of planning a wedding. When they continued despite medication, tests were ordered. Don’t worry, they said. Just a precaution.

She worried anyway. Her fiancée did what any man would do for the woman he loves. He comforted her, held her, and told her everything would be okay. After all, their love was meant to be. He busied her with thoughts of caterers and flowers, but he busied himself with that same worry.

A few days later, they both sat numb as the doctor informed her of the cancer eating away her brain.

…endures all things…

After the tears and the confusion and the silence, the two talked. How could this be? How can God let this happen? What can we do now?

They had no answer to those first two questions, but they knew what to do about the third. They would marry. They would celebrate their lives together as long as they could. Their love would endure.

It must. Because as I watch them staring into one another’s eyes, my attention returns to the words of the preacher. He is finishing his scripture reading, and I whisper to myself the last three words he speaks to them:

“Love never fails…”

Yes.

Here this bride and groom stand, in front of God and two hundred people, testifying to those three words. They are true love made manifest. And we are all witnesses.

And now, so are you.

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Filed under: love, marriage
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Comments

  • Lauryn Abbott

    What a beautiful and heart-rending story. Love never fails. I hope and pray that the time they have is more precious and blessed than words can describe. Blessings!

  • Anne L.B.

    What a beautiful picture of unconditional love — love that keeps on loving even when it hurts — the way God loves.

  • Joanne Sher

    Oh, Billy. As soon as you said "headaches" I began fearing the worst. Been there, done that. Thank you for making me a witness to 1 Corinthians 13 in action. Incredibly poignant. I needed this reminder today. Thank you.

  • Heart2Heart

    I am now crying! Crying for the love that I witnessed reading this beautiful moment captured in time by your wonderful words.

    I am hoping and prayer for this couple that God will intervene and heal as though nothing was ever there. I pray for strength for them to endure all the way til life takes one of them away.

    I smile because I know that one day nothing will ever separate them again.

    Love and Hugs ~ Kat

  • Denise

    That is true love defined. May God cover this precious couple with sweet comfort.

  • Lianne

    What a beautiful story these two have! Such commitment. I pray that she will recover.

    Thanks for sharing this.

  • RCUBEs

    1 Cor.13, the favorite chapter about love. But I often wonder how much people truly grasp that it's the definition of "real love". Love is the greatest of all human qualities and is God's attribute Himself. When we know how to love completely, then we understand how God loves.

    "There are three things that will endure – faith, hope and love – and the greatest of these is LOVE."-1 Cor.13:13.

    Thanks for touching our hearts again.

  • Caroline

    This touched my heart in an indescribable way! Thank you Billy. You truly know how to share, you are blessed with a gift and I thank you for sharing it with us.

  • Elaina M. Avalos

    So beautiful. I hope I find that someday. Thank you for sharing!

  • Chris Sullivan

    Wow, you may have gotten a tear out of me. What an inspiring couple.

  • jasonS

    Imagine if everyone married and lived their lives with that sense of urgency.

    It sounds cliche and I don't mean to be crass with your beautiful story, but we should truly live like we're dying. There would be no falling out of love, just a tremendous reverence and thanks for the days we have together.

    Thanks for sharing.

  • Frisbies Forever

    WOW! That is amazing.I wish them all the very best for as long as they have.

  • Frisbies Forever

    Kinda puts it all in perspective and makes me realize I can be a whiny lil brat at times.

  • Melinda

    Popped over from Aspire to Lead a Quiet Life…SO glad I did. What a stunning depiction of a true and committed love…a stunning reflection of the Greater Love that surrounds them.

  • katdish

    Love is an action word, not a noun. I think you witnessed that Sunday. Beautifully written, as always.

  • April

    You always paint such amazing pictures with your words, Billy! I feel like I'm sitting right there in the church, too, watching those two people pledge their lives and their love to one another. LOVE always endures…and never gives up!

  • Kim

    amazing…thanks yu

  • Candace Jean July 16

    I've heard this verse hundreds of times, most recently at our son's wedding. But to have it dissected so beautifully and unconditionally….wow.

    You are patient and kind, Billy…and all the rest of it.

  • Laura

    Ah. YOu write of a wedding and I of a funeral. Life, full circle…

  • Annie K

    Love is way bigger than four letters and I don't know that anyone can really get their arms around it.

    Awesome, as always.

  • Anne L.B.

    Jason S, I don't think you're crass or cliché. We do need to live fully, each day—each moment—with the urgency of knowing that we are indeed dying.

  • ~*Michelle*~

    Again you have me wiping boogies from my keyboard. Darn it, Billy!

    WOW…..what an amazing story. How blessed you are to be part of that beautiful testimony of the true love that is inspired from Above.

    Cancer is ugly.
    Jesus Christ is beautiful.

    I believe in the power of prayer and miraculous healings….I will be praying for this couple.

  • Beth E.

    Awesome, Billy…thank you.

  • Jody Hedlund

    What a truly beautiful story–as well as sad. You are a wonderful story-teller, Billy! Congrats again on getting Rachelle for an agent!

  • Jeanne Damoff

    Exquisite.

  • Irene

    Wonderful piece. I really feel the urgency to send this msg across to many young believers who are in the verge of looking for their better half's.

    Irene

  • lynnrush

    Thanks for making me cry so early in the morning, Billy. **smile**

    Amazing story. I'm glad you shared.

  • A Simple Country Girl

    What could be more sad? Those who never drink love from His gracious cup of Life. Those who never taste such a sweet union with God at the center. Those who never think to love another more than themselves…

  • Connie Arnold

    What a beautiful, heart gripping post, Billy! You are so right that love was made visible in this couple. May God bless them and give them more time together to share that special bond of love.

  • Sockrma18

    "How many times those words have skidded over the surface of my heart but not really plunged to its core."

    Wow….gonna have to view that verse a little different now….because it got down a little deeper than I ever expected.

    Great post, Billy. Thank you.

  • RickNiekLikeBikes

    It will be an honor to present my wife before God the day he decides to take her home.

  • christy rose

    True Love never fails! Never! Great Story Billy!