---Intro--

<if raining>
Into every life a little rain must fall, sometimes literally.

But remember, this rain, this water, just completed a journey from ocean,
to sky, to ground.  From here, it will nourish and sustain life, and
flow back to the ocean, to start the process again.  So do not begrudge
the water its fall.  Its arrival guarantees life, and marks the end of one
cycle, and the beginning of another.  Just as this cycle exists with water,
another cycle exists for humanity.  It is one of the most spectacularly
beautiful aspects of this cycle that we come to celebrate today.
That of marriage.

So, on to the marriage.
</if raining>

---
Those who know do not talk
Those who talk do not know.
(Tao Te Ching, 56)
---

I will start this ceremony by talking, and in so doing I will demonstrate
that I do not know.  I do not seek to inform or to educate you.  Instead,
I seek to cast light on your own knowledge.  To help you look inward,
and to see the truth that is written there.

---
Nothing endures but change.
(Heraclitus)
---

Things change; the world changes, and people change.  That is certain.
The nature of the change, its effects and eventual outcome: these things
are unknown.  Mark and Cindy are here today, because they are announcing
to their friends and family that they have committed to changing together;
to growing together.  They are getting married.

And so, I have the honor of presiding over the ceremony that symbolically
joins you together.  This ceremony, I can affect; I can change; I have
some degree of control over.  Of course, the importance of the ceremony is
minor compared to what comes after it.  And this is up to you, Mark and
Cindy, and I charge you with the difficult, complex and, incidentally,
incredibly rewarding task of loving each other.  Of helping each other.
Of caring for each other.  And growing with each other.

I can only offer some minor direction.  Some things that strike me as wise.

---
We cannot reason ourselves out of our basic irrationality. All we can
do is learn the art of being irrational in a reasonable way.  
(Huxley)
---

And people are irrational.  There is nothing to be done about it,
because the basic motivations of people are, at their heart, irrational.
So accept this in each other, and yes, in yourselves as well.

In your dealings with each other, and with the rest of the world, be 
prepared to change.  You are changing anyway, you may as well guide it
to further harmony.

---
A man is born gentle and supple.
At his death he is hard and stiff.
Green plants are tender and filled with sap.
At their death they are withered and dry.

Therefor the still and unbending is the disciple of death.
The gentle and yielding is the disciple of life.

Thus an army without flexibility never wins a battle.
A tree that is unbending is easily broken.

The hard and strong will fall.
The soft and supple will overcome.
(Tao Te Ching, 76)
---

In life,

---
Cherish your yesterdays, dream your tomorrows, live your todays.
---

For your actions today are the only thing you can change.

And finally, a personal belief that you may find useful.  Something
that strikes me as a deep truth:

---
Remember the truth that once was spoken:
To love another person is to see the face of God.
---