E pili mau na pomaika'i me 'oe
As the sun slips softly behind the chiseled slopes of Diamond Head, two friends make gentle promises on a Kahala beach.
These two dated in college, yet each eventually married someone else. Nearly five decades later, each having survived the death of their original partner, they hold hands as they quietly form a new union.
A handful of friends stand watch. Former students, current Sunday School class members, a sister. The loving circle offers affirmation and blessings as the early evening sun frolics in frothy waves behind the bridal pair.
E pili mau na pomaika'i me 'oe
Scriptures and praying, pledges and repeating: Troth plighted and pledges made. Is it simply the passing of time that makes these words sweeter, or is it the shared history, all those years ago, when younger hearts could not have foreseen this autumnal blessing?
There are moments when less experienced persons speak these vows, and you find yourself wondering “Do they even understand what they’re promising?” Today, surrounded by the richness of deeply ripened relationships, it is evident that both bride and groom speak words of carefully chosen, deliberately purposed intent.
This is not an accidental union. We are awed by it, a tangible tingling that slips in somehow between the Scriptures and the prayers, the pledging and the plighting.
Perhaps the groom’s former student and the ceremony’s ‘Best Man’ captures it perfectly for all of us as witnesses. “God Hides in Plain Sight,” Dean Nelson suggests. Hand-in-hand on the beach, a small circle of friends is surprised by joy. This evening on the sands of Oahu’s southern shore, the One who loves us is not in hiding. We bow in reverence, welcoming and accepting the Divine embrace.
