The Power of Love

London, like all cities, sometimes hardens the soul. The pace of life forces us to put up defences just to survive. We start the day pushing or being pushed onto a train. Everywhere is crowded. Everyone wants our time. We are forced to say "no" to hordes of market researchers, pamphleteers and beggars.

We end up complaining every day about the trains, the office, the shops and other people in general.

Then, every so often, if we are fortunate, an event comes along that reminds us we are truly human, reminds us that most of the daily grind is irrelevant whether it is tough or easy and reminds us that nothing matters more than love.

Such an event came this weekend when my wife and I attended the wedding of my best friend in Kent.

Kent is known of "the Garden of England" and despite being the main freight route from the continent of Europe to the UK, it still retains large areas of rural tranquillity all a short drive from London.

For October in England the weather was unusually kind. The wedding ceremony was in a rural church out in fields away from the village. It looked like it had hardly changed in hundreds of years.

More important, even to a jaded Londoner like me, there was a spirit in the air that was powerful and inspiring. It was a spirit of sincere love and hope for the future.

Maybe it was partly due to the fact the groom was a close friend that I felt this more. All the same, while other weddings I have been to have been sincere and happy, I have rarely felt this spirit of love so strongly emanating out of a wedding before. Maybe it was that little Kent church. Maybe it was the blessing of God that the priest made.

Whatever it was, it felt right. Both bride and groom are happy to come from strong families. Maybe the fact they have all four grandmothers is a testimony to the benefits of matriarchal rule :-) (By the same token, the sad demise of all four grandfathers is a reminder of the fragility of male life :-( :-))

It was a happy day of the union of two strong families to celebrate the marriage of one family's son to the other family's daughter.

I have always known that love is the most powerful force in the world. However we all need to be reminded that sometimes. One of the best ways of remembering the power of love is to see it living in two people who commit the rest of their lives to each other. When you see them do that in happiness and sincerity it is really the antidote to all cynicism!I wish the bride and groom well on their future lives together. Going on the feeling of the day, I have every confidence that their future will be long and happy. Thank you for sharing your big day with us and thank you for the inspiration and reminder of what is important in life!

(For those of you who prefer my more complaining posts, I fear that "normal service" will be resumed shortly !)