Bran's mom is getting married today, in less than two hours actually. Here are my remarks, for her and her new husband Roy, as they move forward from this day. Blessings to them, and to us all... and happy Summer Solstice everyone, may your love be fired and your spirits shine...
I’m going to talk today a little about Love. I believe that Love lives in the Spirit of things. What I think is that God endows each of our human sprits with our own unique gifts, and our jobs as individuals is to find those gifts, to polish them up and then give them light to shine. And I think that Love is the power, it is the fire that shines our inner light, or actually, Love simply is that light. So our own love lights live when we shine our gifts, when we share our gifts, and that makes love an action word.
Here are some examples of what Judy and Roy have shown the world about love. In 2002 I met Judy at the Kent Family Center where she was the Director. At the time I was fresh out of college and I went to the Kent Family Center to try and volunteer with young adults. Thankfully for me, one of Judy’s brightest gifts is her ability to see potential in other people. In fact, since that very first meeting, Judy has shown her special way of loving: she always is wanting to set up the conditions so that others around her are given the very best opportunity to succeed at their goals and dreams—from that first moment we met and ever since, Judy has countlessly extended her hands to open doors and to come to the aid of not only myself but of everyone she comes to know. Her spirit is endowed with a natural desire to lift people up, to want to see other people’s lights come on and shine, and I, indeed, met a real shining star in her that day. Her enthusiasm is contagious, she is one of those rare souls with the genuine gift of hope. Judy’s most natural way of loving is by sharing that a person’s light is a contagion, it is a contagion of hope, and by showing that hope doesn’t ever give up.
A couple of years ago I met Roy Crow. Admittedly, I was concerned when we were first to meet Roy, sure that our differences in politics would color our relationship and stand in the way. What ended up happening however, inspired and empowered me, and continues to do so until this day. Roy’s spirit, his love, came through in some of our very initial discussions by his tolerance and open-mind, and in turn those same gifts were taught back to me, as well. Since those first days, Roy continues to inspire and impress by his willingness to listen, to embrace all sorts of new knowledge, and, perhaps most importantly, by showing me that no matter the label a person has, it is his character that is the final statement off his personal truth. Roy Crow’s character has been endowed with the old-fashioned virtue of principal. He is a man whose primary gift of love is to show us all how, by our actions, to do the right thing. And he does so with a quiet humility, showing that honor truly does live in the actions that we take.
Loving as they do by so easily shining and sharing their gifts, it is natural that both Judy and Roy have excelled in service work. Judy recently left a long and inspired career in the social services world, sharing her gifts with the families of not only Kent and Queen Anne’s Counties but also in Delaware over the years. Roy has served our community of Kent as a trusted elected official for several years. Both have spent much of their adult lives working hard on the behalf of other people. Both, I am sure, have at times doubted the virtues of giving as they do, as loving as they do, from the heart of things. It is not always an easy way to live. Both, in fact, have tried their hands at marriage before, and certainly they were blessed tries, one need only to look at Russel or Brandon, Karl, Robbie or RJ for proof of that. And to me the union of these two bright spirits this day is final proof of the virtue of living the way they do. Of living a life dedicated to sharing the highest in one self, a life in which Love is about the walking of it. They have proven that when love is given through our gifts on a day to day basis, when it becomes definitive of how we live, well then our lovelights attract only good things right back to us. In him, Judy has now been given the gift of the gentleman she’s always been quietly looking for—the old-fashioned man of heritage and honor, of tradition, the man of calm principle that can be the equal strength she needs to see to it that she gets lifted up to her highest, too. In her, Roy’s been given the gift of a true authentic woman, one with the endless depths of a caregiver’s soul and the impassioned devotion towards the one she loves and calls her own. With such combined lovelight, with gifts like these, I believe Roy and Judy can only go higher and higher.
Judy and Roy, who spent the first half of their lives living never more than 12 miles apart from one another, are walking testaments to the strength and courage, the fortitude of living this life from the heart of things. How, when we devote to loving with our very lives, our paths takes us home, bring us to union, in ways that we could never have imagined. May their love, their gifts, be blessed and their lots in life and love continue to shine and grow. May we all be so connected and inspired. May love walk with us each this day and light all of our way.
No comments:
Post a Comment