Rings are often symbols of promises. Those unbreakable pledges that bind us to someone or something. Rings are used in marriage, they can represent promises to one other, promises to God, or promises to ourselves. Four years ago, I placed a ring on my finger, a simple silver and amethyst ring, and I uttered a personal vow to never again leave New Hampshire. Every time I left home to live somewhere else, as soon as the newness wore off, I was miserable. With my promise ring on my finger, it anchored me to this place. And I was more than happy to let it.
But last year, something deep inside me began to stir. Something I suppressed for many months. A need to embrace my faith in a bigger way. I looked at doing a short term Missions trip, but nothing called out to me. Nothing was settling as feeling like the right trip, and every time I thought I’d found the right one, things would fall through. I fought the idea of a long term Missions Trip for more than half a year. It would mean leaving. It would mean I was breaking my promise.
Then I discovered The World Race. I knew God was challenging me to take this leap; that I had been led here for a reason. There was a brief hesitation though. What would happen without me? What about my role in town government? Can I live without Squam Lake for a whole year?
I was called to be a part of the Race, but I didn’t know just how I was going to let go of New Hampshire. I was so very conscious of the ring on my finger, and the fact that maybe I should take it off before I left. I had plans to take it with me, to wear it around my neck, as if the act of removing it from my finger would mean something.
Then God showed me His idea of just what was going to happen to that ring. About two weeks after committing to the Race, I woke up one morning and I felt more than saw that something was odd about my ring. When I did look at it, it appeared as if it had been hit by a hammer, though it was still on my finger. The metal was bent, and the jewel was in pieces. Clearly, the promise I made to myself regarding New Hampshire was just that: my promise to me.
With the ring now shattered, I am free to do the Lord’s work, wherever it is He should send me.
