The One Ring

This may be a bit of a silly post today, but for some reason I really feel the need to tell this tale about my ring.

Specifically, my wedding ring.

In our culture, here in America, The Ring is the sign of marriage- that you've committed living your life in partnership with one other person.  It is worn on the ring finger of the left hand pretty much all the time.

Well, about a year ago or so, I was scrutinizing my wedding ring up close and realized that the prongs holding some of my diamonds in were looking very worn.  This is fairly normal, I guess, that settings would need to be re-pronged to secure the precious stones in place.  However, it's a pretty costly repair.  Once I noticed this, I set my ring aside and just thought I better stop wearing it, because the last thing I wanted was to actually have one of those diamonds fall out, because then I'd really have an expensive repair on my hands!

To be honest, I'm one of those people who would have to take my ring off for pretty much everything anyway.  The ring I was married with has one solitaire that sticks up rather high off my finger, and would get caught on everything.  So in the course of daily life, that ring spent a lot of time sitting in a special little cup by my kitchen sink.  When I would leave home I'd pop it on quick, but with a loose setting, that ring just stayed in the little cup.  But even then, I would take it off and tuck it in my purse often as well.  When I play the drums I have to take it off, because the resonance from the sticks goes through the ring and is a major source of irritation...

I have posted a bit over the years about how there are things that our family just learns to live without, and let me tell you, jewelry repair is not even on my radar at all.  We're talking several hundred dollars for someone to reinforce a ring that I have to take off frequently anyways because it gets caught on everything!  So it's been sitting for some time, and it didn't really bother me all that much until I took my kids to our first dance competition of the season.

This was the first time the kids and I have done this kind of thing solo.  As our dance friends were constantly asking where Andy was, I really felt conscious that I wasn't wearing a wedding ring, and I was hoping that no one thought that things were not well on the home front.   Then we went to our second weekend away and there was one point where I took the kids for ice cream and for the first time in my life that I'd actually noticed, I watched a handsome young man check out my teenage daughter.  (Lord, help me! Thank God she was oblivious!) As he moved on, I was both horrified and amused, but then I immediately started thinking that if anyone checked me out like that while we were away, they would not find a ring on my finger.

You know, it's such a little thing, really, but all the sudden I started thinking that there was no reason I really needed to repair the wedding ring I had- I could simply purchase something inexpensive for the time being to take the place of my wedding ring.  It doesn't matter what the ring looks like, it's simply its position on the hand that speaks volumes for all to see.  So there I was, waiting for an opportunity to go looking for a very simple wedding band to put on my finger when an idea literally popped into my head from no where.

Several years ago my mom had given me a ring from my grandmother.  There's nothing really special about it, other than the gemstone in it is my birthstone, and it belonged to my grandmother.  I do like it, as it's in a sterling silver setting which I FAR prefer to gold jewelry, but  I really never wear it  because it doesn't really fit any of my fingers well... except for one... yup.  I went to my jewelry box, pulled it out, and that ring slipped right onto my ring finger and instantly felt like it belonged there.  I have worn it ever since.

And here's the best part.  Not only is this ring comfortable, but unlike my actual wedding band, I don't need to take this one off for anything.  The setting is smooth and set close to the finger, so it doesn't catch on anything.  It has a low enough profile that I can slide my gardening gloves right over it, I can do dishes with it on, I can do my daughter's hair, and I can play the drums with it on as well.  Seriously, it's like the perfect ring for me.  Being a unique person, I also really like that it doesn't look like a million other engagement/wedding band combos out there.  It has my funky pale green birthstone in the center, surrounded by sterling silver greenery.  It's like a little plant on my ring finger, and anyone who knows my love for growing my garden will take one look at this ring and know that it was meant to be on my finger.

You know, it's just like God to meet a need before I even knew it was a need.

"Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you"  Matthew 6:28-30

As of right now, I have absolutely no desire to get my wedding ring repaired.  I certainly don't plan to get rid of it, but for now, it sits hidden away while a replacement sits on my finger.  A replacement that signifies the importance my husband is to me and how I've committed to spend a lifetime with him and only him sits wrapped around my finger and is more than enough for me.  God is so good to take care of even the smallest of things.  It's those small things that remind me how much He cares for me and knows every detail that is important to me.  And if it's important to me, it's important to Him.