The Ring

NOTE: As Leah already said on her blog, I repeat here: Something is going on with Blogger. It is taking all the line breaks out of posts. I'm sorry this is so hard to look at but I can't seem to find a fix.

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As I was looking for something in my filing cabinet last night, I came across a November, 2001, issue of the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church's Communicator magazine. They had sent me a copy because they had published in it a short article which I had written called "The Ring." I'm going to use it for my blog entry today because..well....because it's one of my favorite memories! The story happened just after we had lots of rain....sort of like we have been having lately. I hope it will be a blessing to you today!

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The Ring

A very interesting thing happened to me last week. We had been having quite a bit of rain and it was muddy in my driveway when I returned home one afternoon. As I stepped out of my car and started toward my house, I was looking down at the ground trying to keep out of the worst of the mud. A round shiny circle caught my eye before I had taken more than a couple of steps from my car. I bent over to see what it was and to my surprise it was a ring! At first I thought it was some sort of little cheap pretend ring a child visiting us at some time or another had dropped. But then I took a second look and could hardly believe my eyes! The ring I held in my hand was a silver and turquoise ring that belonged to my daughter. My oldest son had given it to her as a gift when she was a teenager. I remember that she had the ring on her hand in her "Senior Pictures" which were taken in the fall, and that by her graduation the next spring she had lost the ring. She had looked and looked for it but never could find it.

I was simply amazed that I now held that same ring in my hand! I knew it was her ring even though it was covered in dirt and grime. It had been in that dirt in my front yard for over six years. I brought the ring into my kitchen and started cleaning it up. I washed it with soap and water and then let it soak for a few minutes in jewelry cleaner. Then I got my silver polishing cloth and shined it up even more. I put it in a little ring box and carried it to my daughter the next day. She was so surprised and so pleased to see her ring that she had given up for lost many, many years ago.

As I thought about the ring and how long it had been lost, I began to think about how this applied to my spiritual life. There are people whom I have prayed for, for many years. Sometimes I feel like my prayers are doing no good. But I think the Lord must have let me find that ring to show me that I should never give up on people. We may have loved ones and friends that we think are beyond hope and are lost forever to the things of the Lord. But just like this ring, which was unearthed by the rain the the Lord sent, our friends and family can be found easily by our Lord Jesus Christ. He knows just where they are and even where they will be six ...or fifty...years from now. They can't hide from Him anymore than my daughter's ring was hidden from Him. Never give up! It may be that your prayers and your tears will soften the hard hearts of your loved ones in much the same way that God sent the rain to soften the hardened soil of my front yard so I could find the silver ring.

"They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him."

(Psalm 126: 5-6)

May God bless you today.......

Marilyn