She saw the scarlet thread of her lips, the light in her eyes, the family through their love, their children running barefoot in a fresh field.

The marriage bond is more than a civil contract. It is a reward for loving well.

It was a love that was not a contract but an affection of the soul.

They learned to live contently with small things, to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion, to be worthy not respectable, and to be rich not wealthy. They let the sacred and unconscious bloom amidst the common, rendering it all extraordinary.

And in the fall, the cold would wither that which was known, scattering new seed. In the spring, that which had been sleeping awoke and a new season of beauty began. For Life seeks life and builds a bridge across the darkest valley.