It glimmered.
Yellow gold.
Blemish free.
Of a mirror-like quality.
Inscribed inside are moments and reminders.
A verse, a date, and a promise.
All these mark a certain type of distinct significance in the love shared between two people.
In purity and in an unblemished state, it fits remarkably well on his finger.
An unnatural sensation as it finds its intended location.
A chaste finger no longer.
Now emblazoned with structure, beauty, and a testimony.
This ring on a finger–held in care and cherished in its function–belongs to him, but also to her.
His finger is available no more to another.
He is in covenant.
The ring establishes this fact.
Sure enough.
Years of marriage prove fruitful, but not without struggle.
Dents and blemishes, scratches and patina, all have come to represent the ring’s appearance.
This change, however, does not embody the entirety of the ring.
A sacred object–that has seldom come off his finger–has steadfastly been a fixture of his existence…of their existence.
Only in rare situations has he removed the ring, and when he does he finds himself examining the interior inscriptions.
He sees the verse, the date, and the promise.
Each of these three etchings are part of the still unblemished state of the inside of the ring.
While the outside of the ring has faced the challenges of life, such as digging holes, shaking hands, moving bricks, lifting weights, and planting trees, among many other things, the inside has been tucked away nicely against the flesh of his finger.
The unblemished inside with its mementos and reminders call him back to the day when this ring first found its place on his hand.
The unnatural had given way to the natural.
The once awkward feeling of a foreign object fastened on his hand has–throughout the years–become part-and-parcel to who he is as a human.
To who he is as a husband.
To him as a father.
To him as a man.
He recalls–as he looks at the inside of his ring–the covenant made to his wife and companion those many years ago.
A covenant before God and witnesses.
Of friends and family and loved ones, both young and old.
The day the outside of his ring was in the same way and state as the inside of his ring.
The day he committed himself to her for life. Through sickness. Through health. Through wealth and through poverty.
He recalls their first love…their first kiss…their first embrace.
He sighs.
The dents and the scratches, the blemishes and the patina, all part of him now…and also of her.
They represent their life together. The exchanges of love and tenderness. The care and the tough words. The forgiveness. The tears. The confusion. And the reconciliation.
The unblemished no more.
Now a testimony to a marriage lived in the frailty of humanity.
A testifying to honesty and to courage.
A harkening back to reality and to struggle.
To triumph and to tragedy.
To pressing on despite the misunderstanding.
To choosing love over shame.
Encouragement over ridicule.
Love over apathy.
A pursuit over an indifference.
Whose appearance now changed on the outside, but tenderly protected on the inside.
A ring, much like his marriage…
A marriage represented by a ring…
Not without defect, but also not without care and affection.
A ring and a love. A marriage and a covenant.
“For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.”
Genesis 2:24
— December 7, 2021