i told Neil i didn't even want an engagement ring.
Maybe because my mom never had one - maybe because of the circumstances surrounding our engagement, i didn't think i deserved one. Regardless, Neil ignored me. He went shopping & found a little ring he could afford & when he proposed to me at the little fogged out dock i had always wanted to be proposed to at, he slipped it on my finger & asked me to be his wife.
It has kind of a funny shape & we had to get my wedding ring notched out so that they could fit together... but for those months between February & May when i was fighting morning sickness, taking my finals and missing Neil like crazy - he said he wanted me at least to be wearing his ring...
i was 20 weeks along by the time i finished school & came running home to marry my prince charming. Boy, did it ever feel good to have that wedding ring join my engagement ring on my finger... As much as i had tried to insist to Neil that i didn't want him to compound mistakes by marrying me - did it ever feel good when he silenced all of my doubts and fears with his excited anticipation of our wedding day & the birthday of our little daughter only a few months later...
Have i mentioned that i have the best husband in the world?
So, the other day, he was playing with my rings... & he slipped them off my finger & ceremoniously slipped them on again, upside down.
"That's the one i gave you first," he said as my little diamond made it's way to the bottom of my finger... "and *then* this one..." as my thicker wedding band slid down to join it.
My wedding bands have been catching my eye lately - in their topsy turvy state.
The symbol of our love & our vows made before God - 'till death do us part.
My whole engagement and marriage were put together upside down too...
What grace has my God that he has taken what was upside down & righted it - that He allowed us to make right what we chose to start wrong... That He didn't allow the consequences of our sin to drown us - but He rescued us from our own failings and allowed us to have something beautiful in place of rebellion and arrogance and ignorance.
May He continue to be our cloud and fire - and the central theme that draws us closer together.
6 comments:
I used to think that the way Neil just put your rings on was the way it was supposed to be. It makes sense! Only just before I was married did I learn that it's supposed to be the wedding ring on the base of your finger, as your marriage, not your engagement, should be "closest to your heart." I love that he did that, though, it's so sweet.
So sweet Paige. Reminds me of James and I...
curt always felt it should be the engagement ring first too. He's "argued" it more than once, so now that's how i wear my rings... i love the picture you give Paige. -j
God has a way of "righting" wrongs and getting people "sorted out" -- people say that marriage vs living together isn't really all that different, but I know I felt that being legal and right before God and man had a different "ring" to it... (and not just a shiny, sparkling one)... After we got married we were both crying (off and on) for about three days! Didn't think it would be so emotional! Despite what folk say, marriage is much more than a "piece of paper" or a symbolic gesture...
Saskatchewan Cousin
that's just beautiful. ya'll are such an inspiration!
I wear mine that way too. I didn't like that I had to take the engagement ring off during the ceremony to make room for the band...so I left it!
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