Living Vows
I am posting this song for my lovely wife, Faye, in honor of our 32nd anniversary, which is June 23, 2022.
Imitating a wonderful tradition passed on to us by her parents, we repeat our vows every year. Last night our son, Daniel, helped us recite our vows.
I wrote this song to honor and reinforce that tradition and to celebrate our marriage!
Living Vows
I said that I would, and I will.
I said that I did, and I do.
I promised to always be faithful
To love and to cherish you.
Chorus:
These vows that we take are alive.
And growing even now,
As God gives us grace to live these living vows.
We said them with eyes open wide:
Willing to pay the price.
The reverent fear, the laughter, and love
Have grown with the sacrifice.
So won’t you come stand at my side,
And what we once said let us say:
Beautiful words, my beautiful bride,
That deepen in love each day.
Bridge:
These words come around us to comfort and guide.
Like God’s mighty arms they protect and direct and provide.
Comment:
I remember practicing our vows days before our wedding. As we read them together, and the weight of them began to sink in, Faye remarked, “I feel like I am under the floor.” Just a few days later, we truly said them “with eyes open wide” in deep respect, but also great joy during the actual ceremony. We were under no illusions that the promises embodied in those vows would be easy to live by or should be taken lightly. That sense of blessed burden returns every year when we say them. Today, there is a maturing sense of the sacrifice and commitment involved in our marriage. There is also great joy in the journey that we have taken together and joyful anticipation of where we are going, along with a growing confidence in the work of Christ in our marriage.
I wrote this song for the renewing of our vows in 2009. The idea is that just as our unity and love grow each year, so our understanding of the vows deepens, so that truly the vows are alive, maturing with us. “I said that I love you, and I am affirming that again and again.” Or as the song says: “I said that I would and I will/I said that I did and I do.” And, my beautiful bride, I still do.
Dr. Bill Maynard