Readings by Women/People of Color?

Native American Blessing

Great Spirit, Grant that our hearts may always be young and that our dreams may last forever.

From "Gift From The Sea"

by Anne Morrow Lindbergh (b.1906)

"When you love someone, you do not love them all the time, in exactly the same way, from

moment to moment. It is an impossibility. It is even a lie to pretend to. And yet this is exactly

what most of us demand. We have so little faith in the ebb and flow of life, of love, of

relationships. We leap at the flow of the tide and resist in terror its ebb. We are afraid it will

never return. We insist on permanency, on duration, on continuity; when the only continuity

possible, in life as in love, is in growth, in fluidity - in freedom, in the sense that the dancers

are free, barely touching as they pass, but partners in the same pattern.

The only real security is not in owning or possessing, not in demanding or expecting, not in

hoping, even. Security in a relationship lies neither in looking back to what was in nostalgia,

nor forward to what it might be in dread or anticipation, but living in the present relationship

and accepting it as it is now. Relationships must be like islands, one must accept them for what

they are here and now, within their limits - islands, surrounded and interrupted by the sea, and

continually visited and abandoned by the tides."

From “Instructions For Life In The New Millennium”

by His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama

“Take into account that great love

and great achievements involve great risk.

And that a loving atmosphere in your home

is the foundation for your life.

Be gentle with the earth, be gentle with one another.

When disagreements come remember always

to protect the spirit of your union.

When you realize you’ve made a mistake,

take immediate steps to correct it.

Remember that the best relationship is one

in which your love for each other

exceeds your need for each other.

So love yourselves, love one another,

love all that is your life together and all else will follow.”

I Ching:

“When two people are as one in their inmost hearts,

they shatter even the strength of iron or of bronze.

And when two people understand each other in their inmost hearts,

their words are sweet and strong,

like the fragrance of orchids.”

Mary Ashley Townsend

“How much do I love thee?

Go ask the deep sea

How many rare gems

In its coral caves be;

Or ask the broad billows,

That ceaselessly roar,

How many bright sands

Do they kiss on the shore?”

Touched By An Angel

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We, unaccustomed to courage

exiles from delight

live coiled in shells of loneliness

until love leaves its high holy temple

and comes into our sight

to liberate us into life.

Love arrives

and in its train come ecstasies

old memories of pleasure

ancient histories of pain.

Yet if we are bold,

love strikes away the chains of fear

from our souls.

We are weaned from our timidity

In the flush of love's light

we dare be brave

And suddenly we see

that love costs all we are

and will ever be.

Yet it is only love

which sets us free.

Maya Angelou

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Personally, as a person who picks tons of readings for different couples, I think it's the spirit of the reading, not the author.

@ Celia --I totally agree...

These are all great! Thanks, and keep 'em comin'...

@ Celia - I concur

I know as a guest at a friend/loved one's ceremony, I would hardly be keeping tabs on how many of the readings were done by "old white dudes" as opposed to how many were done by Maya Angelou. Pick the readings that speak to you and your FH the most; you don't have to apply affirmative action to your wedding ceremony lol

Excerpt from "The Irrational Season"

Madeleine L'Engle

But ultimately there comes a moment when a decision must be made.

Ultimately two people who love each other must ask themselves how much

they hope for as their love grows and deepens, and how much risk they

are willing to take…It is indeed a fearful gamble…Because it is the

nature of love to create, a marriage itself is something which has to

be created, so that, together we become a new creature.

To marry is the biggest risk in human relations that a person can

take…If we commit ourselves to one person for life this is not, as

many people think, a rejection of freedom; rather it demands the

courage to move into all the risks of freedom, and the risk of love

which is permanent; into that love which is not possession, but

participation…It takes a lifetime to learn another person…When love is

not possession, but participation, then it is part of that co-creation

which is our human calling, and which implies such risk that it is

of

Love

which is permanent; into that love which is not possession, but

participation…It takes a lifetime to learn another person…When love is

not possession, but participation, then it is part of that co-creation

which is our human calling, and which implies such risk that it is

often rejected.