A Damaged Diamond and A Perfect Promise

Last week, I smashed my diamond wedding ring in the folds of Baby D’s heavy stroller.  Expecting the worst, I checked for damage, and sure enough, I’d bent one of the prongs on my large diamond. (Although difficult to see in the above photo, the lower left prong is out of place and isn’t even touching the diamond.  You can click on the picture to see a close-up view.)  This is actually the third time that I’ve wrecked my ring, and I was frustrated that I’d been careless with it once again.  The incident reminded me of a post I wrote years ago on an old blog, so I decided to repost it here.

I’m not a showy person, so I never really anticipated owning an extravagant ring. A simple, small diamond on a plain gold band was all I ever hoped to have. Imagine my surprise when, after proposing, Jon presented me with a brilliant-cut half-carat diamond set in an ornately-designed band! It was absolutely stunning, and I felt beyond treasured that he would give me such a lovely gift.

I never take my ring off, and one day I inevitably whacked it against the wall when running after one of the boys. In doing so, I visibly bent one of the setting’s prongs. I took it in to be repaired, and the jeweler told me that not only was the prong bent, but I had actually chipped my very precious diamond. There really wasn’t much to be done for the diamond, but once the prong was repaired, it completely covered the diamond’s damage and the ring now appears as perfect as it was when I first received it.

After relaying this story to friend, she asked, “Why didn’t you have the ring insured? You could have had the diamond replaced.” Even if we’d insured the ring and had the option of replacing the damaged diamond, I don’t think I would have chosen to do that. While the ring is beautiful, it’s the promise behind it that gives it value. Jon gave me the ring with this promise: “I will be committed to you for as long as we both shall live. Nothing will cause me to break that promise.” This ring, its imperfections and all, symbolizes that promise for me. I don’t really care that its original monetary worth has been significantly reduced; the promise behind it has not.

In a way, my ring also reminds me of the promise of salvation. I am a broken diamond, chipped beyond repair. But God in His mercy covered me with the blood of the Lamb, just as the new prong covers the chip in my ring’s diamond. He no longer sees the broken me, but instead, He sees the righteousness of His Son covering my brokenness. My imperfections will never cause Him to remove my salvation, just as my broken ring does not annul Jon’s commitment to me.

A new diamond might have greater monetary value, but my imperfect one is much more dear than any replacement could be.

All fixed – for the third time.  And I’m guessing this won’t be the last, either.