Brian’s Reflection: Monday, February 15, 2010

I'm gonna love you, like nobody's loved you
Come rain or come shine
High as a mountain, deep as a river
Come rain or come shine
I guess when you met me
It was just one of those things
But don't you ever bet me
'cause I'm gonna be true if you let me
You're gonna love me, like nobody's loved me
Come rain or come shine
We'll be happy together, unhappy together
Now won't that be just fine
The days may be cloudy or sunny
We're in or out of the money
But I'm with you always
I'm with you rain or shine

Lyrics by Harold Arlen, born on
this date, 1905, in Buffalo NY


Well, we’ve just been though Valentine’s Day, in sentimental celebration of Romantic Love, with the cards and the flowers, and maybe even jewels if the ads got to you and you have a job or some dollars stashed away, etc etc. I don’t mind a little gushing sentimentality ….. now and then! As long as we don’t lose track of Real Love. What we might call, in honour of Harold, “Come Rain or Come Shine Love”.

Notice that Arlen says nothing in this one of his most beloved songs about material gifts, or about feeling good, or about flowers. He talks about “rain or shine”, about “happy together, unhappy together”, about “cloudy or sunny”. So does the Christian marriage liturgy in most denominations – about “richer or poorer”, “sickness or health”, etc. And in the Bible, God talks like that to His “Bride”, to Israel, telling them that there is nothing they can do that will cause Him to stop loving them.

Oh, it doesn’t mean that we won’t have fun, or joy, or feel wonderful a lot of the time, hopefully most of the time. It doesn’t mean that a marriage mightn’t fail in the end – it takes two to work. But it does mean that before two people marry, I think they must agree that when unhappiness or clouds or rains come, then too – and especially then – they will hold hands, and bring flowers, and say I love You, and have the courage and the faith and the wisdom to look deep and be honest and be open to the Mystery sometimes called Grace. And to becoming “new”.

“Rain or Shine”. It isn’t a prison. And it can’t be imposed, only accepted. It’s a tool to help two fragile people get beyond the raw patches of hurt feelings to the amazing experience of knowing what it means to be really loved. That feeling trumps all!

Brian+