Lord of the Rings

Mrs. Sweetie and I have spent the past week on “vacation” and I am exhausted.  No, it wasn’t one of those see-how-far-you-can-drive-and-how-many-attractions-you-can-visit vacations.  We have spent a week in the Texas panhandle helping with final preparations for our baby boy’s wedding.  Yesterday evening, we stood on a point overlooking majestic Palo Duro Canyon, under the warm glow of a Texas sunset and I pronounced this couple, my amazing boy and his beautiful love, husband and wife.  After eight years of friendship and almost four years of courtship, they pledged their love and commitment to God and to each other standing before a rough hewn cross at the Christian camp where they first met.  I have to admit … no, proclaim … that I am one happy dad.

Next Sunday is Father’s Day.  This year, it is especially significant for me as I celebrate being a father for 25 years and getting a daughter-in-law.  I’ve almost gotten my head wrapped around the father-in-law thing because my baby girl presented me with a son-in-law 2 ½ years ago.  Yesterday’s wedding gives me a certain sense of completion and fulfillment.  Our precious Allie became the final piece of my fatherhood puzzle.  My two kids are all grown up and have found their partners for life.  The circle is completed. 

Symbolic of this completed circle, Mrs. Sweetie bought me a ring for Father’s Day.  Whenever I wear it, I will be keenly aware of the blessings of God on my life through my family. This ring will always be precious to me; probably second only to the wedding band that pretty much stays on my left hand 24/7.  I wore this new “Daddy ring” for the first time at the wedding yesterday. It seemed so appropriate to introduce it in this sacred moment.

I got a little misty-eyed when that special girl came down the aisle toward my boy.  Watching the two of them looking at each other filled my heart with something that defies my vocabulary.  That feeling was probably what caused me to say at the crucial moment, “Zeke, you may kiss my daughter-in-law.”

That other ring, the left hand one, is symbolic as well.  It symbolizes choices.  After 29 years, Mrs. Sweetie still makes my heart go thumpity thump, but the ring reminds me that I choose again every day to share my life with her, to do what is best for her, to honor our Savior with our marriage.  Truly, He is the Lord of my rings.  How precious our lives are to Him!

My prayer for my “circle” is that each one would see their Savior as the Lord of their rings, their marriages, their lives.  They are more precious to Him than they are to me. And that’s saying something.

Psalm 127:3 says, “Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.”  I am a man most blessed.

Our lives matter to God.  Is He Lord of your rings?