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Learn - The 'I Love You Ring'
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The I Love You Ring
Luke 15:8-10
Or what woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost! In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. NASU
One lesson I’ve learned repeatedly is that when I’m tired I lose things. My mentor is always lecturing about my getting overtired but I just keep repeating the behavior. One of my favorite definitions of insanity is that insanity is doing the same things over and over and expecting different result. I know better than to let myself get too tired but I can’t seem to stop. After all, there is always something else to do.
I was so excited to be back in Jacksonville. The plan was that Bob and I would meet in Jacksonville, spend a couple of days together, and then join our children and grandchildren on Lake Tarpon for a glorious week of vacation. My irrational thought process was that it was OK to get tired because I was going to have a week to rest.
I arrived in Jacksonville a few days before Bob and filled every minute of every day and night with work, family visits, and chores. I went without sleep and raced from one place to the next, trying to fit everything in.
The day Bob was due to arrive I noticed that my fingers and toes looked like someone who lived in campgrounds, dumped holding tanks, worked on greasy engines, and tromped through woods. For a week, I wanted to pretend I lived a life of leisure and knew my nails would snatch me back from my denial. With barely enough time to pick up my 3 year old grandson and race to the airport to get Bob, I ran into a nail shop and begged them hurry their normally luxurious manicure and pedicure. When the bell rang to announce my fingernails were dry, I grabbed my purse, keys, trotted to my little beach buggy, and roared out of the parking lot.
That night while Bob and Noah were happily playing trains, I stopped to admire my beautiful nails and gasped. My engagement ring was gone. “Oh no,” I groaned with my heart racing. “Oh no, oh no, oh no.”
“What’s wrong?” both Bob and Noah said in unison.
“My ring is gone,” I cried.
“What?” Bob exclaimed.
“My ring is gone,” I repeated. “My engagement ring is gone. My hands are still slick from the hand lotion from the nail place. The ring probably slipped off.”
“You were sorting clothes for the laundry,” Bob said logically. “It’s probably with the clothes.”
If you’ve ever lost an engagement ring, you probably know what the rest of our night was like. We moved heavy furniture, went through nasty trash, shook out clothes, and felt down the garbage disposal. We didn’t find the ring but Noah was delighted when we found one of his cars. We also found dog hair, dust, coins, pens, and other useless or disgusting stuff. To our credit, the only time anyone was anything but lovingly compassionate, helpful, and concerned was when moving the heavy couch left a deep long gash in the hardwood floors.
We finally put Noah to bed and Bob and I went to bed feeling sick. The next morning the three of us continued to search.
“Why do you need the ring?” Noah asked as he moved pillows and looked.
“It’s my ‘I love you ring’ from GrandBobby. It was the ring he gave me to show that he loved me.” I explained.
“But Gi Gi,” Noah said. “GrandBobby still loves you.”
“Yes, he does but I love the ring and want to find it. It has a diamond in it.”
“Don’t worry, Gi Gi,” Noah answered reassuringly as he went back to looking. “We’ll find it.”
A few minutes later, Noah started yelling, “I found it, I found it.” He came running in to show me a tiny plastic rhinestone that looked like a diamond.
“Thank you honey,” I said gently. I had no idea where he found this or why it was in my beach condo. “My diamond is actually on a ring like this.” I showed him my wedding ring and we all went back to searching.
Finally, Bob and I gave up the search. “I can’t believe it’s really gone,” Bob said sadly as he shook his head.
“I don’t want another one,” I said dejectedly. “I’d probably just lose it. Thank you for being so sweet about this.” Since we’d promised Noah a trip to the train store, we packed him up and headed to the car.
When we got in the car, my determination returned. I decided to enlist reinforcements. First, I called Aunt Ka Ka. If you’ve read my other writings you might remember that when I lost my gold watch, Aunt Ka Ka not only prayed for it, but suggested where I might find it. Sure enough, even though I had no idea how the watch got to a ‘lost and found’ desk in a building where I knew I hadn’t lost it, the ring was there.
“I’ll pray,” Aunt Ka Ka said urgently after I told her my sad story. “What did you do yesterday before you picked Bob up”
“I worked, went shopping, got my nails done, picked up Noah, and drove to the airport,” I said.
“Go back to the nail shop!” she ordered. “They are going to have your ring.”
“But I didn’t leave it there,” I argued. “I remember putting it on before I left.”
“Cheryle,” she said firmly. “If we always did what we thought we did, we wouldn’t ever lose anything. It is going to be at that nail place. I’m pretty good at finding things. Go to the nail shop!”
Knowing it wasn’t at the nail shop, I called my girlfriend and prayer partner, Gail Golden. When she answered, I asked, “Do you pray for rings?”
“Of course I do,” she said. “Let’s pray now.” No one can pray like Gail. She began, “Father, you know where that ring is…”
Finally, I made one more call. I called my lifelong best friend Nancy. I needed empathy and knew I’d get it there. “Oh no,” she said. “That’s terrible. You must be so upset.”
“I am,” I wailed. “I want to cry.”
“Of course you do,” she said. “I’d feel the same way.”
After calling my three pillars of loving support, I felt better. We went on to the train store and had a good time watching trains run around the tracks. Seeing Thomas the Train chug along cheered me up. Watching the black Atlantic Coast Line Engine reminded me of my days riding the train with my Daddy. After Bob literally dragged Noah and me out of the train store, we dropped Noah off at his home. As we headed back to the beach, I remembered Ka Ka’s instructions. Everyone always obeys my Aunt Ka Ka.
“Bob,” I said. “We need to stop by the nail store and look for the ring.”
“But I thought you said you remember putting the ring back on,” he said.
“I do but Aunt Ka Ka said to go there. Remember, she is who suggested where to look when I lost my watch in Denver last summer. Besides, she said that if we always did what we thought we did, we wouldn’t ever lose anything. It won’t be there but the nail place is on the way home.”
The second I walked into the nail shop, the nail technician’s face lit up. “The ring!” she said excitedly. “You’re here for the ring. We didn’t have your phone number so we couldn’t call you.”
“You have my ring? ” I cried.
“Yes,” she beamed as she opened the drawer and pulled out my twinkling diamond ring.
A woman who was getting her nails done said, “Isn’t that just about the best news you’ve heard?”
“It is,” I said, hugging the nail technician. “Thank you for being honest.” I hugged everyone in the shop and told them about my Aunt Ka Ka’s instructions and the prayers.
I ran to the car waving my hand and shouting, “They had it, they had it.”
“You’re kidding,” Bob said, clearly astonished.
“Ka Ka said it would be there. Gail and Ka Ka prayed for it. No one prays like them. You’d think I’d learn to have faith,” I said through my tears.
I called everyone to tell them about my ring. Nancy said, “I’ve been depressed all afternoon. Every time I looked at my ring I imagined what you must have been feeling. I’m so relieved you found it.”
Aunt Ka Ka was thrilled. “That’s kind of spooky,” she said.
“You have a gift,” I agreed.
“I think I’m just good at finding things,” she said. “I always have been able to think that kind of stuff through.”
“I think you have a gift,” I insisted.
Everywhere I went for the next several days, I told people the story. Every time I looked at my ring I said aloud, “We found the ‘I love you ring.” I felt like throwing a party. Finding the ring made our vacation sweeter. Never had I enjoyed the ‘I love you ring’ more.
As I thanked God for finding my ring, I thought about the lost people I meet along the roads of America. As I travel and see the vacant stares, I feel the deep longing that God has for these troubled lost souls. God was longing to find them even more than I longed to find the beloved ‘I love you ring.’ Just as Bob sealed our love with the symbol of the ‘I love you ring,’ God is waiting to seal each person with the blood of Jesus. The miracle of it all is that you and I get to be part of the process of winning the lost to Christ. When we help the lost find their way to God, we get to party with Jesus and the angels. Amazing!
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