31 years ago today, Melvin and I bound our lives together. We could not know, then, all that life would be, within our small family and in the wider world. But we knew we wanted to face it all together, and we promised to make each other laugh along the way. And we have.
I have been thinking this morning about the things to which we bind ourselves, and the effect it has on our lives. This Sunday is Trinity Sunday, a day when we Episcopalians often sing “I bind unto myself today the strong name of the Trinity.” We sang it at my ordination to the transitional diaconate 4 years ago (June 11). This is a bold statement we Christians make, that we bind ourselves to God. It is a choice we make in response to the love in which we are created. It completes the circle of love, initiated by God.
The circle around my finger symbolizes the circle of love that Melvin and I share. It has power because we choose to bind ourselves to it. Melvin designed the ring ( I know!) in love. It has been resized, and repaired, over the years, just as each of us has changed and grown, separately and together.
The bonds I have chosen, to Melvin and to God, have shaped my becoming. I believe I chose well, because I feel like I am always growing more fully into the person I want to be. A person who understands the power of love to transform hearts, lives, and our world, and one who grounds myself in that power so that I might help set it free to do its work in me, in others, and in the world.
To what do you bind yourself, and what effects do those choices have on you, on those around you, and on the world? Bind yourself to love.
31 years. Thank you, Melvin. ❤️