A Wedding Blessing

One section of the Bible contains the story of a young woman’s courtship and marriage. It reads very much like a play, with changing scenes and various characters who come in to say their part. Then the scene changes and another character appears and speaks. The young woman speaks most often, because the story is told from her point of view.

She speaks of her thoughts and feelings as her marriage approaches. This is not the story of an arranged marriage to an unknown person, but of a courtship between a man and a woman that takes place over a significant time span. The woman describes her feelings when she hears the voice of her intended:
The voice of my beloved! behold, he comes leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.
The sound of his voice fills her with joy like skipping across mountains.

And the man describes his feelings when he sees the woman:
Who is she that looks forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun?

This story is full of the love these two have for each other. It talks of the strength of their marriage bond. This couple has eyes only for the other.

Many waters cannot quench love, rivers cannot wash it away: if one were to give all the wealth of his house for love, it would utterly be scorned.

The young woman sees her intended looking out a window. If you keep the bond of marriage and walk with God’s love and grace, then you will fulfill my prayer for you, which is, that for the rest of your life, you will be able to look out a window to see your beloved and say what she said:

Look, there he is behind the wall! Now he is looking in through the window, gazing into the room. My beloved has answered and said to me, `Rise up, my friend, my fair one, and come away, For, behold, the winter is gone, the rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard; The fig tree forms its early fruit; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance. Arise, come, my darling; my beautiful one, and come away. Show me your face, let me hear your voice; My beloved is mine, and I am his.