Tammy is getting Married

I am very proud of my daughter. She is getting married on Saturday 6th April, 2019. Why Saturday, you ask? Because every anniversary that follows will be near or on the weekend daylight savings ends. Her husband may feel he is busy with work during anniversary celebrations, but Tammy has given him an extra hour to get his act together.

Getting married will be the happiest day of your life. Not because you never have joy again, you will. It will grow richer and deeper. Not having to fend for yourself alone lifts a tremendous burden. But today is a magical one. Things can be frustrating, but there is grace and forgiveness. And hope.

Tammy has a gift. It doesn't always work as she intends it, but it is a magical power. She brings people together. I noticed this on a trip I made from Sydney to Melbourne, scouting for a place to live. The only things that went right for me on that trip involved Tammy. We had dinner with friends at a Korean BBQ. And everyone that was there was there because Tammy was in Melbourne. Including me. And tonight everyone who is here is here because of Tammy and David.

I have three quotes for her and David
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

John Dillet Freeman Blessings for a marriage

1 Corinthians 13

All three quotes are of love and marriage. The wisdom of Solomon is proverbial, yet he married four hundred times and had six hundred concubines as well. He died before he was sixty, aged before his time. Paul did not write of his family, but it would have been strange were he not to have married. He certainly knew something when he wrote to Corinth. James Dillet Freeman had a strange marriage, but his blessing is profound.
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Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
Two are better than one,
    because they have a good return for their labor:
If either of them falls down,
    one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
    and has no one to help them up.
Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
    But how can one keep warm alone?
Though one may be overpowered,
    two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

1 Corinthians 13

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues,they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

John Dillet Freeman Blessings for a marriage

May your marriage bring you 
all the exquisite excitements a marriage should bring, 
and may life grant you also patience, 
tolerance, and understanding. 
May you always need one another - 
not so much to fill your emptiness 
as to help you to know your fullness. 
A mountain needs a valley to be complete; 
the valley does not make the mountain less, 
but more; and the valley is more a valley 
because it has a mountain towering over it. 
So let it be with you and you. 
May you need one another, but not out of weakness.
May you want one another, but not out of lack.
May you entice one another, but not compel one another.
May you embrace one another, but not encircle one another.
May you succeed in all important ways with one another,  
and not fail in the little graces.
May you look for things to praise, 
often say, "I love you!"
 and take no notice of small faults. 
If you have quarrels that push you apart, 
may both of you hope to have good sense enough 
to take the first step back. 
May you enter into the mystery 
which is the awareness of one another's presence - 
no more physical than spiritual, 
warm and near when you are side by side, 
and warm and near when you are in separate rooms 
or even distant cities. 
May you have happiness, 
and may you find it making one another happy. 
May you have love, 
and may you find it loving one another.
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Thank you David and Tammy. This is the happiest day of my life too. 

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Following the wedding 6th April

Things change. My daughter has married, and now I'm not needed to be what I was. I will always be a friend, and always have an ear and be available. But she now has a family she is going to grow with. They are her higher priority. Part of her day to day living. And that is what I want, and how it should be. I was nervous before they married. I had thought the event might be more .. desperate. Maybe I was hoping for a larger role, moving forward? But what I saw on the night gives me peace. The family she has joined are big, loving and good. I now have something in my life I had thought I had missed. But God is very good to me.

Medley for wedding pictures/video

Earth, stream and tree encircled by sea

Waves sweep the sand from my island.

My sunsets fade.

Field and glade wait only for rain

Grain after grain love erodes my

High weathered walls which fend off the tide

Cradle the wind

To my island.

Gaunt granite climbs where gulls wheel and glide

Mournfully glide o'er my island.

My dawn bride's veil, damp and pale,

Dissolves in the sun.

Love's web is spun, cats prowl, mice run

Wreathe snatch-hand briers where owls know my eyes

Violet skies

Touch my island,

Touch me.

Beneath the wind turned wave

Infinite peace

Islands join hands

'Neathe heaven's sea.

Dark harbor quays like fingers of stone

Hungrily reach from my island.

Clutch sailor's words, pearls and gourds

Are strewn on my shore.

Equal in love, bound in circles.

Earth, stream and tree return to the sea

Waves sweep sand from my island,

From me.

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Who can turn the world on with her smile?

Who can take a nothing day, and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile?

Well it's you girl, and you should know it

With each glance and every little movement you show it

Love is all around, no need to waste it

You can never tell, why don't you take it

You're gonna make it after all

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Somethin' in the wind has learned my name

And it's tellin' me that things are not the same

In the leaves on the trees and the touch of the breeze

There's a pleasin' sense of happiness for me

There is only one wish on my mind

When this day is through I hope that I will find

That tomorrow will be just the same for you and me

All I need will be mine if you are here

I'm on the top of the world lookin' down on creation

And the only explanation I can find

Is the love that I've found ever since you've been around

Your love's put me at the top of the world

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My Jesus, my Saviour

Lord there is none like You

All of my days I want to praise

The wonders of Your mighty love

My comfort, my shelter

Tower of refuge and strength

Let every breath, all that I am

Never cease to worship You

Shout to the Lord all the Earth, let us sing

Power and majesty, praise to the King

Mountains bow down and the seas will roar

At the sound of Your name

I sing for joy at the work of Your hand

Forever I'll love You, forever I'll stand

Nothing compares to the promise I have

In You