Have you ever run across an unusual illustration showing all that matters in life is love?

This week we’re celebrating our anniversary, so I’ve been thinking about love and weddings and family. In the hectic hours before our wedding two years ago, I managed to take a few photos that capture the personality of our day.

Everything about the ceremony involved people and things we love, from the setting in my mom’s backyard to a family friend serving as the enthusiastic professional photographer.    The centerpieces were fashioned of flowers and antique books, because both Curt and I love to read. And the flowers sat in vases collected from family and friends.

Guests were greeted with this old chest passed down in my family and painted by my dad.

Photos of our family hung on a weathered fence, displayed for all to enjoy.

Recently I found a love poem that immediately struck me with its poignant expression of devotion. What’s strange is that it was not written by someone trying to convey love. It was composed by a man named Leo Marks as a cipher for code in WWII. It was created in war, but still, it’s about love. Even in tragic, dark days, love showed up. The war ended, but the poem lives on and is read at weddings decades later.

The life that I have is all that I have,                                                                                           And the life that I have is yours.                                                                                                 The love that I have                                                                                                                   Of the life that I have                                                                                                                  Is yours and yours and yours.                                                                                                   A sleep I shall have, a rest I shall have,                                                                                    Yet death will be but a pause.                                                                                                   For the peace of my years, in the long green grass,                                                           Will be yours and yours and yours.

This, to me, is one more example of how it all comes down to love.

Wishing you a week filled with love — maybe from some surprising place!

Linking up with Flower Art Friday, This or That Thursday, Texture Tuesdays, Sweet Shot Tuesdays, and Communal Global. Photos are processed with Kim Klassen’s textures Dream It and Phoebe.