What about Now, What about Today?

Yesterday, I officiated the wedding of a very special couple, Stacy and Mark. This couple has one of the most unique love stories I have come across. They were good friends in high school, both separately wanted to be more than that, and as men are from Mars and women are from Venus, had some miscommunications about that very fact. So, “Harry and Sally” like, each went their separate ways, married, had kids, and eventually divorced. Then they found each other again, and this time, grabbed the bull by its horns, fell very deeply in love, and the rest is history. Here is what I shared with them during their wedding ceremony:

I am about to divulge to all of you one of the most telling details one can share with others about him or herself. I have never really done this before, so deep breath, here goes. I am going to share some of the contents of my iPod playlist…

Seriously, though, many times, when I am trying to write personal remarks like these, I listen to music. Corny as it may sound, music can inspire my writing. This time, however, I didn’t just become inspired; I hit the jackpot. Here is the song by Chris Daughtry that my iPod came up with as it shuffled, when I sat down to think about what I would share with Stacy and Mark, and you all. Listen carefully to the words.

Shadows fill an empty heart
As love is fading,
From all the things that we are
But are not saying
Can we see beyond the stars?
And make it to the dawn?

Change the colors of the sky
And open up to
The ways you made me feel alive,
The ways I loved you
For all the things that never died,
To make it through the night,
Love will find you

What about now,
What about today,
What if you’re making me all that I was meant to be,
What if our love never went away,
What if it’s lost behind words we could never find,
Baby, before it’s too late,
What about now.

The sun is breaking in your eyes
To start a new day
This broken heart can still survive
With a touch of your grace
Shadows fade into the light
I am by your side,
Where love will find you…

Now that we’re here,
Now that we’ve come this far,
Just hold on
There is nothing to fear,
For I am right beside you.
For all my life,
I am yours.

It is almost like this song could have been written for Stacy and Mark. What Daughtry in his words, and Stacy and Mark in their love story teach us, is that in our lives as individuals, as couples, as families, as a nation, as a world, there are second chances. In fact, there may be more second chances than we realize. Too many times, we let those second chances, which could redefine our lives, which could revitalize our existences pass us by. What both this popular singer, and this lovely couple are telling us is – it does not have to be that way. They call upon us to ask ourselves, to ask our partners, to ask our families, to ask our nation and the whole world itself – what about now, what about today?

So, Stacy and Mark, thank you. Thank you for serving as an inspiration. Now, go ahead and hug each other (it’s perfectly OK, you are almost married…) and as the years go by, take a moment here and there to do what you are doing right now. Perhaps you might even say to each other when you do, “Just hold on, there is nothing to fear, for I am right beside you. For all my life, I am yours.”