Before you take that step

Before you make the undeniable leap of faith

Just a moment ere you say those words

Stop

Just stop and wait

Draw a breath and remember

Just push pause on the tape

Stop recording, hold your thoughts and freeze in the moment

Think

Think about what?

Think about what you’re about to do

Pause and see what you are going to commit yourself to, who you are going to commit to.

And more importantly, is he really that one

Reflect for the moment, as you stand there poised for the vow

No, I won’t be there to say I object

I can’t be there because I am in a faraway land

Look about the crowd as if I were, imagine my face among the throngs of guests

Remember the very fire you felt when I was near you and even as you do now

Look at him, in his tuxedo and all his groomsmen

Turn to your bridesmaids and maid of honor

Then lay your eyes on your parents…

Before you take that step

Before you make the undeniable leap of faith

Just a moment ere you say those words

Stop

Just stop and wait

Draw a breath and remember…remember in the moment…

Look at the Altar

Close your eyes but for a moment

And imagine my hands are in yours

Even though they are not the ones your holding now

Listen to the priest as he invokes the vows and institutions of marriage

Smell the candles burning, and feel your heart thud in your chest as he holds your hands tenderly in love

See your family before your eyes, as they wait to welcome him into the fold

But one who knows your heart, and knows who you truly want to take to your bosom for all time

Is not here

Where is he, you think?

Is he going to be all right as you do this, while he is away to fight the daily battle

While you take that step

While you make the undeniable leap of faith

Just a moment ere you say those words for all time

Stop

Just stop and wait but for a second

Draw a breath and remember nothing is promised.

Flash back to the nights spent passionately

And days hand in hand

Lips telling things written on the soul, verbally, and non verbally.

The strength of my arms, the soft femininity in your eyes

Feel time slow down as if it were the defining moment of Christ on an unsuspecting world

Look to the doors from which you entered

See the crowd as they wait with anticipation for you to agree to by his wife

Just before you take that step

Before you make the undeniable leap of faith

Just a moment ere you say those words

Stop

Just stop and wait

Draw a breath and remember that I promised you my life, love and world for all time

And now the moment of truth comes

Can you do it?

Can you truly forsake me for him

Is it in you to do it, to bury what is left of us together

In spellbinding passion, chilling love and contemplative romance

Can you create me to be a blast from the past like a blizzard that passing over

Will you say yes?

Can you not say no?

Do you love him as you say

Should you feel this way?

Do you need me, desire to be with me?

Is he all the man that you need?

Is everything going to be alright if you ask me to the altar to take the vow with you instead

Do you love me?

Are my eyes the ones you want to look in for eternity

Is his embrace the one you want in the morning

Look about one last time

Before you take that step

Before you make the undeniable leap of faith

Just a moment ere you say those words

Stop

Just stop and wait

Draw a breath and remember

That I am here, and that I love you, need you and desire you

Though you make walk to be with him, stop and think… before you say yes the final time

Am I truly a wraith of a memory

Or was it you love him, but I am the heart from which all things come?

Answer these questions

Then look me in my eye to tell me

Am I that which you need as your friend, your husband and your lover

In life, in death and in eternity.