Loren,
You say I’m always quoting TS Eliot so I figured what better
way to start a toast than by giving you some more words of wisdom from this
great poet. He writes in the “Four Quartets”:
“Love is itself unmoving,
Only the cause and end of movement”
At first the phrase “Love is unmoving” seems contrary to all
experience of love—Love is a dynamic verb often associated with movement when
we describe it: falling for someone, being swept off our feet, being drawn
towards a person. But when Eliot follows his jarring statement with “only the
cause and end of movement” his point becomes clear: Love moves us, but remains
unmoved.
Love—true love motivates us, changes us into self-giving beings
who move towards each other: a movement like the one we’ve gathered to witness
and celebrate today. What happened today represented a year and a half of
movement: friend groups expanding, families merging, and Loren and Derek
growing steadily closer together. But the love itself that caused that movement
is steady, deep and unmoving, far more constant than the shifting emotions and
actions it motivates.
The truth Eliot expressed about love is an echo of scripture
such as when Paul writes that Love along with Hope and Faith remain when
everything else fades away. We also learn from scripture that God, himself the
unmoved mover and unchanged changer is
Love.
In the life Loren and Derek seek to create for themselves
there is no greater blessing I could wish on their relationship than that they
would experience both the deepest and most abiding of human loves which is
unmoving and constant and also the love of God which surpasses and perfects all
other loves.
And now forgive me as I make one final literary allusion
(I’m an English grad student—we do this a lot) This one’s from Shakespeare,
please raise your glasses with me:
“Joy, gentle friends. Joy and fresh days of love accompany
your hearts!”
To Loren and Derek!
No comments:
Post a Comment