I picked through my dish of rings, searching for The One. I don’t often wear my original wedding ring, favoring a silver band I bought in France to my marquise diamond set in gold—an iteration owned by almost everyone wed in the early nineties.
But I wanted to wear it that day in August of 2018 to another wedding. My dress called for a gold ring, and so it would be. But no.
Where was my ring?
Maybe it was in another jewelry box or dish or jar. But none of those offered up the missing piece. When had I last spotted it? Memories were hazy. Had the girls borrowed it for fun? They said no.
I conducted a massive purge of the house in early 2018 in the weeks before Flicka’s graduation reception. Did I scoop it up by mistake then—along with tarnished hoops, bracelets missing beads, and souvenir shell necklaces—and donate it? Life was full of people; I threw parties, hosted events, and hired cleaning ladies for jobs. What if someone—? But I couldn’t let my mind wander there.
Husband selected that gold ring for me in 1992 without my input. He wished to surprise me. Also, I was greedy back then, and he couldn’t afford my choices; better to keep me out of the process altogether is how the legend goes. He had chosen well, though—all on his own.
As we boxed up our house to move in 2020, I yearned for that bit of diamond and gold, my hopeful eye tuned to its possible glint in dusty corners or in places where beds once stood.
Still nothing.
Yes, it’s only a material possession. No, it doesn’t truly matter in this life. But at the end of 2023 now, I still pine a little for that ring. What if it could call to me from its hidden place like Wisdom, who takes her stand on the heights, at the crossroads, next to city gates, and at the entrance of portals?
She is better than any wedding ring in the world, and she cries out to anyone who will listen:
Take my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold, for wisdom is better than jewels, and all that you may desire cannot compare with her.
No examining dust under beds. No poking through old jewelry boxes. Just ears to hear and a heart to perceive.
I walk in the way of righteousness, in the paths of justice, granting an inheritance to those who love me, and filling their treasuries.
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