A Ring, Some Woes, and the World

I don't know about you, but I don't do the best job at keeping my engagement ring/wedding ring cleaned and shiny. It is the single most valuable thing I own and definitely the most sentimental and I tend to get lax with my care of it.

Well, right before we left for Northern Ireland I decided to take my rings to be cleaned and wanted them to be soldered together since they were always twisting one way or the other.

Since the jeweler we trust and bought it from is in Atlanta, I had to find a somewhere local to take it to. Immediately, the name of a trusted jewelry company came to mind, but they aren't at the most convenient location for me so I chose a store about 2 miles from where we lived.

Loooooooong story short when I picked up my ring, I wasn't just dissatisfied, I was horrified. Yes, the rings were soldered together, but had not been aligned before doing so.

The worst part, and most immediately noticeable was that my once beautiful, shimmering main diamond was now yellowed and hazy.

After receiving no good explanation I hightailed it to the jeweler I knew I should have gone to in the first place and it was determined that the soldering had been done on the ring before it had been cleaned so all the dirt on the ring had baked onto my diamond- something a decent jeweler would know. As for the misalignment, it was just sloppy work.

Thankfully, the damage on the big diamond has been remedied, but one of the side diamonds will have to be replaced since it was beyond repair. Of course this means more time, money and an unlikely resolution with the jeweler who damaged the ring in the first place.

Moral of the story: While I was very upset by all of this I did take it much more to heart than the materialness (is that a word?) of an earthly possession.

What I took away from this event was this: Let me encourage you to not trust your most precious treasures- your husband, your children and the relationships you have with them to the world (things much more priceless than a ring) . The world appears to offer what is best and advice is abundant. Take care of your marriage, spend time building relationships with your children. Do not let the world have the final say, even when it's convenient and makes things temporarily easy. Damage will occur.

I'm so glad I was reminded and convicted of this in my own home and I hope this lesson is one I continue to take to heart and to the Lord.

Those who trust their own insight are foolish,
but anyone who walks in wisdom is safe.

-Proverbs 28:26