sonnet 116

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixèd mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

I heard these words this afternoon while I was working out on my elliptical machine.  Yep.  I was working out and watching Sense and Sensibility.  It is hard to imagine, but this movie keeps me moving and the time flying.  But I always have to stop and take in sonnet 116 when Marianne reads it out loud.

My heart fluttered.  Not from the workout. She finished reading, and I kept on moving, invigorated.  Why?  I know I am loved.  It is still astonishing to me, how well my husband loves me.  Through thick and thin.

Particularly, my thick and thin- which is why I was on the elliptical in the first place.  I have had three children now, and recently decided it was time.  Time to get rid of the extra pounds.  Time to get back in shape and try to keep up with my family.  But, my decision was not out of fear of judgement or ridicule.  No, my husband has loved me in spite of it all.  I have given plenty of reasons for him to change his mind, I assure you.  But, his love for me seems to be an ever-fixed mark. It is an earthly love, imperfect in some ways, but similar to the description in the sonnet…

If I think about the poetry by Shakespeare for long, I am reminded that it is a picture of God’s love.  A heavenly, perfect love.  It is unchanging over time.  It cannot be shaken mid storms; it cannot be removed.  His love cannot fail.  All are amazing, but true statements.

love, described in Song of Solomon 8:

⁶ Set me as a seal upon your heart,
As a seal upon your arm;
For love isas strong as death,
Jealousy as cruel as the grave;
Its flames are flames of fire,
A most vehement flame.
⁷ Many waters cannot quench love,
Nor can the floods drown it.

This love that is unquenchable, is hard to understand.  It is difficult to comprehend, until the knowledge is mixed with experience. It seems I find myself at the edge of the vast ocean of His love with just my fingertips dipped in. But, it is here, on the brink that I am coming to know this love.  It is the love of a Heavenly Father who loves regardless of my actions, who forgives again and again and continually draws me to Himself.

my heart flutters again.