THE RUBY RING

A True Story

By Michael K. Farrar, O.D.

© God’s Breath Publications

www.godsbreathpublications.com

 

Life was hard in the late 1800’s on the flat Kansas plains. Iva’s parents struggled to make ends meet as they attempted to raise corn and wheat. Her family lived a simple life based on hard work and trust in God. Like her parents, Iva had few possessions to call her own. She had a cloth doll she played with and some pretty smooth stones she had found in the pasture. Occasionally she would pick a flower from the front yard and place it a mason jar of water. This simple vase graced the window of her bedroom and brought beauty into her domain.

 

Iva liked pretty things especially the ruby ring that her mother kept on the mantel in the china teapot. Iva’s grandmother had given it to her mother and one day Iva would have it as well. Iva often begged and pleaded with her mother to let her look at the ring. On very special occasions her mother would give in. They would sit on the well-worn couch and her mother would retrieve the ring from its fragile container. Iva would gaze into the deep red color of the ruby ring and dream of wearing it to a fancy social where everyone could gaze at its beauty. The golden color of the ring itself was the only thing that rivaled the magnificence of the red ruby. Together they were gorgeous perfection. Her visits with the ring were always too short and never often enough. How Iva loved that ring.

 

One day Iva lay on her bed thinking of the ruby ring. Her mother and father were out in the garden gathering tomatoes and black-eyed peas. Possibly she could sneak into the living room and grab a short reunion with the ruby ring. She jumped off her bed and peeked out the corner of her bedroom window. Her parents were busy harvesting in the garden. If she were quick and careful, her mother would never know. She ran into the living room, placed a chair up to the side of the mantel. She lifted the lid of the fragile teapot and fished for the precious ring. Her dainty fingers found her prize. With treasure in hand she ran to the window to check on her parents. She carefully looked out the living room window and saw her father still harvesting vegetables, but her mother was on her way to the front door. She knew she did not have enough time to place the ring back in the teapot, she chose her only other alternative. She ran for the back door and just managed to exit into the back yard as her mother entered the living room. Iva “bee-lined” for the outhouse. She knew it would provide a good excuse for her leaving the house as well as give her uninterrupted time to play with the ring.

 

She entered the outhouse and fumbled with the latch. Iva heard her mother call out, “Iva, where are you.” Surprised by her mother’s voice, Iva lost her grasp on the ring. It fell from her small hand and went bouncing across the top of the wooden bench of the outhouse. Frantically she attempted to recapture the beautiful runaway but it was too late. The ring disappeared in the darkness of the outhouse hole. What was she to do? “Iva are you out there?”  Tears fell down her soft freckled cheeks. Not only had she lost her mother’s most prized possession, she had lost her legacy of beauty.

 

Iva felt sick as she told her mother what she had done. Iva could see the tears in her mother’s eyes as she said the words that Iva’s broken heart longed to hear. “I forgive you.”  Iva and her parents contemplated what to do about the ring and they all decided that it was best to let it remain where it was.

 

Over 70 years passed. Iva grew up, moved to Oregon, married, raised several children and served God to the best of her abilities. Iva, now 80 years old, decided to go back with her husband and visit the site of her parents homestead. They had trouble finding the exact location, as there were no buildings left standing. Eventually through examining the landscape and finding some pieces of wood they were able to determine where the house had stood on the dry barren landscape. Iva and her husband held each other’s dry wrinkled hands as they looked over the ground where Iva had played as a child. Iva leaned over and whispered in her husband’s ear, “Could we look for the ring?” Knowing how precious this memory was to his wife, he said yes and grabbed his shovel. The loving couple determined where the outhouse was and got down on their hands and knees to dig in the dry earth for the beautiful ruby ring lost many years ago. An hour went by with no luck and then Iva felt something small and hard as her brittle fingernails scratched at the earth. There before her at the bottom of the hole they had worked so hard to create was a shining piece of gold. They carefully loosened the dirt around the lost treasure and removed the gorgeous ruby ring from its tomb. Iva used her dress to wipe off the dirt from the ring. Tears welled up in her eyes and cascaded down her leathery cheeks as memories of her loving mother and her early childhood raced through her mind and soul. Her husband held her close as the strong winds of the Kansas plains blew through Iva’s silver-gray hair. The lost ring had been found.

 

Iva told this story to me when I visited her one day after church. As I think about Iva’s discovery of her lost ruby ring, I can’t help but see a similarity when God finds a lost soul. God values each of us even more than Iva did the ruby ring. God thought us so precious that He sacrificed His only Son, Jesus Christ, to make a way for the lost to be found.

 

How long can we remain buried in the world and its distractions before we will allow ourselves to be rescued from our tomb of death? We fool ourselves when we think we are safe and fulfilling our purpose as we seek earthly goals. Even as Christians we sometimes bury ourselves in the distractions of the earth, separating ourselves from our loving Heavenly Father.

 

Just as Iva’s ring was lost in a pit of pollution, so we are lost in the depths of our own sin as well as the polluted and sinful world we live in. If we don’t accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior we will continue to be lost, without hope. . God longs to fellowship with us on a daily basis. He wants to retrieve us, to redeem us, to adopt us as His beloved children.

 

God tenaciously searches for our souls. He provides every avenue possible for us to run into His loving arms. He desires an intimate relationship with us. He wishes for us to worship Him in all His glory. He is nearer to you than you think and He is only a prayer away. Will you allow yourself to be found?

 

Luke 19:10

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”