Once
upon a time, three years ago, on my sixteenth birthday I followed in the
footsteps of many Christian girls and got a purity ring. I put much thought
into it, making sure it was something that I would wear until I was engaged.
After it was in my possession, I would look at it, thinking how special it
would be someday when I was able to give it to my husband, showing that I had
waited for him all of my life. I had heard story after story of
how meaningful and beautiful it was to give a symbol and a gift like that. I
dreamed of what that was like, hoping that that romance would one day be my
story.
I can
still relate to many of these feelings. I’m a sucker for a good love story, and
I’m a firm believer that the best ones are real, not in movies. I long to be
loved and to eventually be happily married to the man of my dreams. Hardly a
day goes by when I don’t think of how/when/where God will put this special
person into my life. Throughout all of that, I’ve kept the ring. I look at it
and remember that hopefully I will someday give it to the person I’m made to be
with. It’s, in a way, a promise that in the end I will end up happily in love.
Just a little bit of waiting then happily ever after, right?
The
other day I was sitting in church, playing with my ring as usual, running these
things through my mind. I looked at it and daydreamed yet again “someday you
will give this to the person I love”. But this time something didn’t feel
right. Who had promised me that? Who was I to know that this story will for
sure end up the way I want it to? I realized how much of a guarantee and an
expectation I had put on that simple ring. I realized that nowhere, NOWHERE,
did God promise me that I would end up married. I was the one making blind
promises to myself, as if I had any control over it anyway. That’s a helpless
feeling when it’s something that your heart desires so deeply. Just then, the pastor of the service said
something regarding the Church as the Bride of Christ. I was overwhelmed. I
realized that I had been so off-target.
I’ve
heard of some girls getting rid of their rings when they realize they were
making it too much of a focus. While I see the logic in that, I don’t believe
the promise is void, I just think we’ve looked at it the wrong way. Yes, we are
guarenteed a beautiful romance but it isn’t necessarily an earthly one. So
instead of getting rid of this symbol, I’m giving it a new purpose. I will now wear
it as a celebration of love that I am promised and already have instead of a
hope of something that I am not guaranteed. I will look at it as a covenant of
the romance that I have with my Savior. I will first be faithful to Him and if He
ever chooses to bring me into a relationship, it will be a symbol of how I kept
myself to be faithful first to the Bride of Christ then as an earthly bride. A
man who truly loves Jesus will want me to follow Christ over himself
anyway. The truth is that no one can
love me like Jesus can and I don’t even have to wait for that love. It is right
now, a promise that I was born into, enjoy every day and will dwell in for the
rest of my life. What love story can compare to that?
