When Heaven Rejoices

 

For quite some time, I deliberated over what to do about my wedding ring, missing since March. Supposedly it slipped off my finger while I was swimming in the pool at our local gym. I still had not gotten over the shock and sadness of losing it, but felt that it was time to make a decision.

Should I go with Al to a jewelry store and buy a new one? Or leave my ring finger bare as a reminder to continue to ask the Lord to help me find it? Another option was to use a ring that had been passed down from my mother. 

One evening I looked through a collection of her jewelry, trying to find one that would fit. Rock hunting was one of our favorite hobbies as a family; and many of the stones we picked up in the desert, on the beach or in the mountains were later transformed into pins, rings and bolo ties.

Dad used his rock saw to cut the best specimens into whatever shape he desired. Afterwards, he used either a rock polisher machine or tumbler to polish them. Inspired by dad’s work, mom eventually took a class in which she learned how to cast rings out of silver using wax molds. Inset with the polished stones, each piece was unique and original.

 There were three silver rings that she had made in her old jewelry box. One of them had an oval shaped piece of agate in a large rectangular setting. It was a little large and slipped around on my finger, but would not easily slide past the knuckle.

It wouldn’t be the same as my wedding ring; however, I remembered her wearing it. And since her “birthday” was only two days away, that particular ring held special meaning.

The next morning, I took mom’s ring out of the jewelry box and slipped it on my ring finger. Then I went about the day’s activities, meaning to show Al after he came home from watching the men’s semi-finals in the French Open tennis tournament with our daughter, Shanda.

It was time to fix dinner when he arrived home though, so I forgot to show him the replacement ring. Then after dinner we got caught up with cleaning out the car and vacuuming up some popcorn kernels that had spilled underneath the back seat.

Instead of sticking the crevice tool attachment under the seat, Al thought we should raise up the back seat. That was a bigger project, involving taking off the head rest, then pulling the base of the seat forward until it was perpendicular to the floor.

Among the many popcorn kernels scattered around on the mat was a shiny golden object! I couldn’t believe my eyes! The missing ring! It wasn’t stuck in the filter of the pool at the gym, waiting to be sold in a pawn shop or adorning someone else’s finger after all.

“Honey, my ring!” I gasped, hurrying to show him. “It was here all along! Must have slipped through the opening where the seat belt is attached.”

“Boy, am I glad that I didn’t vacuum it,” he said. “Wouldn’t it have been awful to hear a clunk and not realize what it was?”

I agreed and then remembered something…Holding up my ring finger I showed him mom’s ring.

“I just started wearing her ring this morning!” I said incredulously.

In less than 24 hours mom’s agate ring was back in the jewelry box and the wedding ring was once again on my left hand, with a plastic “huggie” to keep it from sliding off. The one word to describe my feeling about that discovery was “overjoyed!” All I could say was “Thank you, Lord,” over and over again.

Of how much more value is each precious child of God! How He searches and yearns for the one who has wandered away from Him. And when that one does return, how all of heaven rejoices!

Come on home today. A great welcome is waiting!

 

“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Luke 15:8-10 NIV