A Silver Ring

Late Saturday afternoon found Keith and I wandering around Park City Shopping Center.  We had skipped out of a seminar a bit early, wanting time to talk and process the events of the past few weeks.  I couldn't remember the last time I'd been in the mall, since I shop almost exclusively at yard sales and Goodwill.  It was fun just to stroll around with no agenda; I forgot how much fun it is to people-watch!  And the Auntie Anne's pretzel stand moved from the downstairs food court into the center area.  Of course, I had to celebrate that surprise convenience with an almond pretzel :)

As we chatted, Keith mentioned that he would like to get a pinky ring.  He'd read somewhere that slaves in ancient Rome wore a "slave ring" on their finger (not necessarily the pinky; that was just his preference).  He thought it would be kind of a symbolic act in the sense that we are slaves to Christ and do His bidding.  I liked the idea so much that I wanted a ring, too, even though I'm not a big jewelry person. 

So we started browsing the jewelry stores.  Gold was way too expensive, and plain silver bands are very hard to come by.  To complicate matters, my pinky ring size is 3.5, which most stores don't even carry.  I almost gave up and settled for a tattooed ring instead.  Finally, a saleslady referred us to a small boutique. There, we found a stainless steel ring (nice and cheap, too!) in Keith's size...but none for me.  They did have silver rings that small, though, that were only a dollar or two more expensive.  We had our hearts set on matching ones, so we went with the silver.

Later that night, I went online to see if the whole "slave ring" idea was only a legend.  There wasn't much historical information available, but this is what I found:  Nobility and born-free folk wore gold rings.  Slaves wore rings of iron.  Freed slaves wore silver.  We went into this ring-shopping thing with the idea of being "slaves to Christ."  I found it quite interesting--and meaningful--that we unwittingly settled on silver!  Christ purchased our freedom for us; He broke the chains of bondage.  Our freedom came at the cost of His life.  And now He calls us friends.  That silver ring is a continual reminder that I owe Him everything, even life itself.