I was looking at a bridal magazine today just to soak up the beauty. The women were all in exquisite gowns; the men all dapper in their suits or tuxedos. All were glowing. What is it about weddings that so capture our imaginations?

Perhaps more than anything else we do in life, marriage is a leap of faith and an act of hope. We look ahead and decide that our future lives will be better with our chosen one beside us than without him. We repeat the vows of the ancient rite: "For better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, for as long as we both shall live," all the while hoping that life will bring us only the better, richer, and in health part of the equation! Of course, anyone who has been married over six months knows that is not the case. And while the good times in a marriage are to be cherished and celebrated, it is often the worse, poorer, and times of illness that test the bond and make it stronger.

My husband and I have been married eight years now, not a lifetime certainly, but enough time that we have had our share of ups and downs. Thankfully, with God's grace, the good days have outnumbered the bad. One of the best pieces of advice I received before I got married came from a coworker who had been happily married thirteen years at the time. She told me, "There are many days when I get up and say, 'I will be married just for today!'" Saying "I do" isn't a one-time proposition. We repeat our vows each day we get up in the morning and choose to continue to care, to overlook each other's faults and treat each other with patience and understanding. Love becomes as much a decision as a feeling.

We celebrate weddings for the act of hope that they are. For those who have been married a while, it can be helpful to look back at where it all started and tap into some of that hope. We say "I do" to another day, cognizant of the fact that all those little "I do's" will lead to a lifetime of love.