Now I Know How She Felt
You know how you can read a story a thousand times, but never really get it? Well, this past week, one Bible story hit home for me. This is a parable Jesus told his disciples describing a woman who had ten silver coins. One day she was counting them only to discover one was missing. She then feverishly lights a lamp and tears her house apart in search of the coin. She moves furniture and sweeps hoping the coin will reveal itself.
Then when she hears the clink of the metal, she leaps for joy. So much so that she calls all her friends together for a small party to celebrate her find. Well, this week, I felt this woman’s pain and her joy. I had lost my ‘coin’ experience. Only my coin was my wedding ring.
Christmas is in the Past
As most of you know, I work from home. My disability, rather my blessing , allows me to use my time to write, my God-given talent. Being at home also gives me the responsibility of keeping the home in tip top shape. This past week was the time for me to de-Christmas the home. It had been up long enough. On Wednesday of last week (January 4), I finally got in the mood, pulled out the totes, and tacked the task. Audrey was back at school, Carolyn was back to work, and the house was mine. By the time Carolyn pulled in the dive way, you wouldn’t have known we even had the holidays.
I did find myself in an interesting predicament. For one, I shouldn’t have overexerted myself like that. I had just recovered from a seizure episode over the holidays but couldn’t stop once I started on the decorations. That is beside the point. And two, if I had slowed down a bit, I may have avoided the situation I found myself in, my lost coin occurrence.
It’s Dinnertime
Two days went by, and I did not notice my naked finger. It wasn’t until Friday evening, when I went to make dinner that I noticed my missing ring. It was a bit silly too. I was making hamburgers. I usually remove my ring to mix the meat, but I dug my fingers into the meat and then remembered about my ring, My first thought was that I had lost my ring in the meat. So, I spent the next ten minutes digging through a pile of hamburger in search of buried treasure. Nope, no ring.
Then I looked over at the counter and remembered that I had baked a banana nut bread earlier that day. Hmm… At that point, I was panicking a little because I was trying to backtrack to all I had done that day besides sweeping the floor a few times, taking out the trash twice, and washing my hands a half dozen times. Well, that day turned into the past two to three days. Then digging through the trash inside and outside, amounting to four trash bags, no sight of the ring.
Thanks for Your Support
Into the next week: Everyone knows of the and Twitter posts, and the love and support received. I thank each of you for that. But one friend came to the rescue, just as he defends our county every day, Constable Cregg Thompson. Cregg is local law enforcement for our county. He is also the husband of Glenda Thompson , a fellow author. He has a metal detector and loves to search for buried treasures in his spare time. He replied to my FB post and came out for a visit.
The Lost is Found
He pulled out his handy-dandy tool, and we scanned one end of the house, only finding bottle caps and buried cans. Then we moved to the other end of the house. Cregg moved his wand across the ground, and it moaned and whined, and we dug and again, caps and aluminum. But one area drew some attention. He said whatever was beeping was about an inch deep. I dug there while he moved on. At first, I didn’t find anything. I moved earth and spread it around and moved it between my fingers. Nada. Saddened because we were running out of area to scan, I began to push the ground back into place when a shiny object stared at me just above where I was. It looked familiar. It was my ring.
Held Speechless
I couldn’t speak at first. Did this really work? An inch deep? This area was in line with where I had taken down our Christmas lights, in a gutter drainage area, and we had rain the night before last. Without that metal detector, there would’ve been no way I would’ve found it through a visual search of the area.
Did I celebrate? You bet I did. I wanted to throw a party, Much like our lost coin biblical friend. I think Cregg wanted too as well. In fact, I think he was more excited than I was. He said it was his first lost ring find. That made me all the happier. Now he can go pro!! Thanks, Cregg!!
Something More…
Just as the woman’s coin meant something to her, this ring means something to me. And I realize it is just a ring, that our life is more important than any token. It is the symbolism behind the ring that is important to me. I mentioned it in the FB and Twitter comments, but I will also say it here. There is an inscription on the ring. Carolyn had it placed there when she had it sized for me. During that time, we were having issues in our marriage. It was a difficult couple of years. We got close to separation. This ring is a symbol that we can make it through anything . Not that I need it to tell me we can, we have each other to prove that. It is just a reminder of that. It would just hurt to lose that reminder.
Side note, I said above that we just had it sized… It was sized UP to fit me. I used to wear it on my pinky. Guess I will have to get it sized DOWN now.
God is good!! He can see you through anything . He can see a marriage through anything. Most of you know our story. It is also a reason I hold so tightly to this ring. It is a symbol of the strength of our marriage. Again, yes, I know it goes beyond a physical object. But what my eyes can see helps me hold on that much stronger.
Photo by ochimax studio on Unsplash
Originally published at http://momentsfortheheart.com on January 11, 2023.