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From Leslie Griffiths, Methodist Minister:听听听听听听听

听

Forty-seven years ago today, I married Margaret, the love of my life. This is how it all began.

听

One enchanted morning, across a crowded room, I spotted her. She was a total stranger but somehow I knew even then that I was destined to see her again and again. I remember the room, I remember the people, I鈥檒l never forget the sensation. I can鈥檛 begin to explain it all. When things like this come to pass, fools may give a reason but it鈥檚 wiser never to try. Love is a many-splendored thing. It鈥檚 a deep, deep mystery. It stops you thinking you鈥檙e the centre of the universe with everything revolving around you. Your attention (and your whole being) is now focussed on the qualities and the interests of someone else. Human love, in this way of thinking about it, has always helped me to understand the unconditional and unfathomable love of God for all his creatures regardless of what they鈥檝e made of their lives.

听

Within days of meeting Margaret, I asked her to marry me. She gave me the thumbs down. I put the same question again and again 鈥� eight times in all. She refused robustly every single time. She seemed to be possessed of at least fifty shades of saying No. I persisted. I knew that, having found her, I wasn鈥檛 going to let her go. Eventually, with a shrug of the shoulders and an 鈥淥h all right then,鈥� she assented. But she set down a condition. She insisted that her engagement to marry a fierce Welshman must be announced on England鈥檚 national day, St George鈥檚 Day. And so it was: at a College Ball.听 On the stroke of midnight, the band stopped playing and the announcement was made by none other than Humphrey Littleton. Was I chuffed?

听

Two of our kids are into their second marriages so we know just how lucky we are that what began in a crowded room, is now and, so it seems, ever shall be, world without end. We鈥檝e been together now for forty-seven years, and it don鈥檛 seem a day too much.