The Vow

Ann, God gave you to me as He gave me to you; as your husband I will treasure you as long as I live, and nurture with you a life and a love toward which the Father has both called us. Together, through the frailties of our human lives, we will seek to build together a family that is our own. Before God and before this assembly of faith, I declare that I love you, and I pray that such love God will deepen and enrich even more, and that in whatever I do as a husband and friend to you and a father to the children whom God in his infinite wisdom blesses us with, such love does not become an empty platitude but a promise observed. I will find joy in knowing you as my wife, my friend, my helpmate, and in being faithful to you, who are now joined to me in one shared life, through its joys and pains, tests and triumphs. Ann, I only ask that you stand beside me, and serve God with me through a life that from now on, becomes our shared existence. Today, I pledge to you my love, my protection, and my faithfulness as your husband, your friend and your helpmate. Ann, I love you.