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Key Bible Verse: A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out (Isaiah 41:3, NIV). Bonus Reading: Ruth 2:1–3:18

Couples often include the lighting of a candle together in their wedding ceremony to signify their new oneness.Three candles are placed on the altar. The smaller candles on either side of the center are burning. One symbolizes the bride, the other the groom. The large middle candle isn't lit. After the vows have been spoken and the couple is pronounced husband and wife, they kneel. When they rise, they take their small candles and light the large one.

I understand that this symbolizes two people becoming one. But what happens next always amuses me. When the center candle is lighted, the bride and groom blow out the candles they are holding.

I always want to ask them if they really mean what they are doing. I don't think that I'd have married Peggy 25 years ago if I'd known that even before the echoes of the vows had faded away, she planned to snuff me out. I hardly think it would have been fair to have had the same intentions for her.

I understand the meaning of oneness. But the deeper meaning of marriage is that two people become one so that they may each become more than they ever could have alone.

—Bob Benson in "See You at the House"

My Response: In what ways do we display our oneness?

Thought to Apply: People who establish successful loving unions let the other be a whole person, rather than forcing him or her to be only half of a whole. —Ari Kiev

Adapted from "See You at the House" (Generoux, 1986) by permission.

Prayer for the Week

Thank you, God, for granting me a life partner. Help us to realize the oneness You intended for us—in spirit as well as in body.

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