Why losing my wedding band was a blessing in disguise

As I got ready for work one day last week, I realized that I couldn't find my wedding band. It's actually my engagement ring, wedding ring, and another matching wedding ring that G bought for me on our first anniversary. All gone.


As you can probably guess, I was frantic. I looked for it as long as time would allow. Like most mothers, I don't have much time for anything except the absolute necessities in the mornings before work, so I had to quit and hope I'd find it that afternoon when I got home.


I fretted all day. I've never actually used that word, fretted, but it seems very fitting for this. I was a mess. Every time someone casually asked me how I was doing I exploded on them about how I lost my wedding rings and my morning was horrible and blah, blah, blah. I would even tell random coworkers who had the bad luck to be walking through the hall at the same time I was. Students who walked into my room trying to score some brownie points with a "How was your morning?" received a long explanation about how it was an awful, horrible, terrible morning. *Insert southern, sarcastic tone here* I was just a ray of sunshine.


When I got back home, I searched high and low for those rings. I searched everywhere that I thought it might me. Everywhere I have ever put it for safekeeping while washing dishes, bathing J, cooking, etc. I even looked in places that I knew it couldn't be. I searched in potted plants, in the air conditioning vents, in the bed sheets. Everywhere. Every. Where.


Eventually I had to give up. There was nowhere else to look, and along with my house I was an absolute mess. All I could think about were my rings. Finally after watching me sulk around for what must have been too long for him to stand, G told me not to worry that we'd buy a new ring if we couldn't find mine. I refused. I didn't want a new ring. I wanted my rings. 


At that moment, I realized the real value of the rings that sit on my hand everyday. A new ring, no matter the monetary value, would never be able to replace my rings.


My husband, all by himself, went to pick out those rings on the hopes that I would agree to build a life with him. He poured over the entire case of rings until he found the ring, his wife's ring. It's a reminder that he only ever wants what's best for me.


He held that ring as he planned how he would ask me to marry him. He twirled that ring between his fingers as he mustered the courage to ask my daddy for my hand in marriage. When the time was right, he felt that ring as heavy as pure lead in his pocket. It's a reminder of all the things I love most about my husband.


That is the ring that I fell in love with as soon as I laid eyes on it. It fit like it was made just for me. It is a reminder that he knows me better than anyone else in the world.


As our engagement waned, it was that ring that I studied for hours on end. It was that ring that I prayed over as I asked God to bless our marriage. It was that ring that my husband slipped on my hand on our wedding day. That ring is the symbol and reminder of our covenant with God.


It's the ring that my husband bought me for our first anniversary. He bought for me it even though there were plenty of other more useful things on which we could spend our money. It is a reminder that he's always trying to make me happy no matter the request.


It's the ring that I made sure I had with me as I went to the hospital in labor with J, even though it barely fit on my swollen finger. It is a reminder of the love that made way for so much more love and happiness.


That ring is reminder of our best days as a couple..even on our worst days.


There are plenty of much more valuable rings, but none will ever be that ring. 


Luckily, I found my ring. They were in the most unlikely place, exactly where I left them. As I absentmindedly took off my jewelry to bathe J, I hung my ring on a hook that I use for my necklaces. I never thought to look there. Why would I? But, I glanced up there as I got ready for bed and there it was. Those three beautiful pieces of jewelry soldered together to be one ring. The ring. The ring that means so much more than money to me. The relief of finding that ring was so enormous that I almost cried. I never knew a ring could hold so much love and meaning.


I never really put much thought into what that ring really meant to me, but I know now. It's funny how God speaks to us in some of the most unlikely ways. I know that my ring is just that, a ring. I would not have made us any less married if it had been lost forever, but it means so much. It's irreplaceable. 


So, all you girls out there pinning beautiful, expensive engagement rings and wedding bands. Think past the superficial value of that ring; think about all of the love that is going to represented by that one piece of jewelry. All of the hopes, the dreams, the faith. There will be so much good represented by that ring.

 Be blessed.