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I wore the wedding band with the two words “and ever” engraved on the inside on my forefinger where it was a snug fit.

I would check it several times a day to make sure it was tight and push it down if it had slipped a little up.

It had belonged to my dad. It’s mate, Forever, had been stolen along with my mom’s jewelry box from our house back in my high school days.

The pair of rings were the ones they had exchanged on their wedding day in 1950.

After Mom’s ring was gone, my parents had new ones made, created by the Artisan, Carl Giehl, who Dad worked with. Carl created beautiful altar pieces, baptismals, stained glass, even fireplaces, for many of the churches and homes Dad designed. And he designed my parents new rings based on Psalm 128:1-4.

Those rings were special, maybe equally special to the first pair. Maybe more so. I don’t know. A ring’s a ring, you know? It’s just a thing.

Last night, I noticed the simple gold band wasn’t on my forefinger, leaving only the impression and a faint band of white.

Todd checked the shower drain and pulled apart the bed, sheets and pillows, got down on his hands and knees searching for the thing, hoping to be the hero. Then I did too. But no ring.

I told him he was still my hero. And then I cried.

I remembered the words I had not too long ago said to someone special, “We cry so God can fill the empty places in us back up with love and joy.”

What were the chances that I would wake up this morning and read a Psalm (145) which begins and ends with the words for ever and ever? I don’t have it memorized. I didn’t know that it said that, not until I read it.

As I sat on the back porch having coffee, a neighbor’s lawn mower stopped and the rain in the forecast began to fall on Fannie and me,

Robin chirps started up from somewhere hidden. And I wondered, have I ever seen a robin sing? Have you? I only hear them. They may cock their heads in plain view and hop across the grass, but for me, their songs come only from hidden places.

On the branches of full foliage the notes descend like prayers…

“For thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever,” one special day, Dad finished praying the Lord’s Prayer over Mom.

“And ever!” she exclaimed.

As I was gathering up my things to go inside, I noticed the words underlined from Vs 13: “Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations.” In the margin I had written, How do I share the life of Jesus in my everyday life?

Huh…

Well, I can tell you one thing, it’s not through clinging to a ring. I have had it for seven years and the time has come to let it go, like so many other things.

What will we cling to…? ❤️

And that, dear ones, is a little snapshot of my everyday life.

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