The Ring

By Susan Farr Fahncke

And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

~Colossians 3:14

It had been a blistering hot day, and my cool shower felt good. I had been working hard on the English garden we are building in the wild, weed-ridden back yard. As the water pounded my aching muscles, I leaned my hot forehead against the cool shower wall. Suddenly, it hit me.

My left ring finger was bare.

While working in the dirt, I had taken off my ring and laid it on the baby's folded-up playpen. I went back to work and forgot all about it. When darkness began to fall, I hauled my gardening tools and the playpen into the garage. In my eagerness to shower, I had forgotten my ring was on top of the playpen.

I slammed off the water, grabbed a towel and bolted out of the house, yelling, "My riiiiiing!"

After my husband made me go put on a robe, we armed ourselves with flashlights and began to search. To my horror, I discovered that, because I had been watering, each blade of grass sparkled like diamonds — exactly like those in my wedding band.

Knowing that the search was even more impossible with our now sparkling lawn, I felt the tears threaten. As we wandered around the yard with our flashlights — my husband in shorts, black socks and dress shoes, and myself in my robe — I realized how married we were. I thought of my wedding band, and all that it meant. I knew we could go and buy another one, but this was the one we had exchanged our vows with. It had seen years of tears, love, laughing, fighting and finding our way to firm ground in our marriage. Nothing could ever replace that particular ring. Its bent, crooked circle fit us perfectly.

Thinking of the significance of that ring and how much I loved the man who gave it to me, I regretted how often I had taken my marriage for granted, how everyday life can fog the importance of those vows and how rarely I reflected upon them. Tears blurred my vision as I agonized over my carelessness.

My husband, ever the calm, faithful one, assured me we would find it. But we had searched so long and covered the same area so many times that I doubted his words. I couldn't match his faith. A few minutes later, right next to where the playpen had been, he reached down and, with a smile, held up my beautiful wedding ring, sparkling in the beam of the flashlight. I snatched it away, slipped it onto my finger, and threw my arms around him with a joyous, "Thank you!"

So relieved to have this wonderful, unending circle of our love back, I finally let the tears wash down my face and onto his neck.

Looking at my ring, each day I am reminded of the promise that holds our family together, makes our children feel safe, and signifies our commitment to each other, our children, and to God. Almost losing the ring taught me a priceless lesson: In a world where so much is fleeting, unstable and temporary, it embodies the most sacred, powerful bonds on earth. Marriage.

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