Beyond the tough love of covenant-keeping is a warmth and tenderness that can't be denied. So while John Piper's This Momentary Marriage focuses on the theological meaning of marriage, its companion volume, Velvet Steel, reveals the rich, emotional dimension.

Within these pages Piper shares a series of poems written for his wife, Noël, during the first forty-two years of their relationship, starting from the day of their engagement. In it he provides readers with a taste of one man's tender affections for his wife-poems that he hopes will fan into flame readers' affections for their own spouses and ultimately for the Maker of marriage.