Standing there before God and man, I grasped my soon-to-be-husband’s hands tightly. “I need to confess something, Bert. I haven’t quite mastered 1 Corinthians 13:5 yet. So, maybe I’d be more honest if I said my vows this way: ‘I, Sheryl, take you, Bert, to be my husband if you don’t insult me, hurt my feelings or do anything to upset me from this day forward, until death do us part.’”
Even though my revised wedding vows would have more honestly revealed the woman Bert was about to spend the rest of his life with, I didn’t actually reword them almost 18 years ago. I have no doubt, however, that he would’ve appreciated the warning.