When I looked down at my hand, I realized why something did not feel right. The ring I had worn for more than two decades was not there. The last I remembered seeing it was in the men's room a few hours earlier.

I had taken up the habit of moving the ring to the "pinky" finger whenever it felt too tight. It probably fell into the drain unnoticed in the confusion of a crowded facility and the rush to get back to work. Whatever the reason, I was without my most treasured posession -- my wedding ring.

It seemed like months, those moments of realization that my finger was bare. Now, the only evidence of my enduring marriage was the fading "band" around my finger where the ring once was. It remained so until summer when my wife gave me a small box as an anniversary gift.

As I opened it, my eyes welled up. The "new" ring had a saphire and a ruby -- our birthstones -- with a diamond representing the Lord between them on a silver band that wrapped across its top. Inside, she had the jeweler inscribe, "Jesus, be the center". It was beautiful to me and it remains so to this day.

Years later, changing weight or maybe a shrinking ring made it necessary to remove the wedding band. I didn't dare put it on a smaller finger so I put it in the safest place I knew -- her jewelry box. Guys, here's a clue: If you ever need to remove your wedding band, your wife's jewelry box is not the safest place to put it. I found myself having to apologize for the unpleasant message putting the ring among her jewelry sent.

It gave me an opportunity to reassure her that through difficult times, this enduring symbol of our love and committment to one another and to the Lord was a thing to be treasured and cared for. I was not "returning" the gift but entrusting it to her. All is well and good, but now I know it is helpful to explain why I am taking the ring off and why I put it in her box.

Looking back, I know it was an insensitive -- typical guy -- thing to do. Yet there remains an intangible keepsake in her jewelry box. The memory of just how much this simple symbol means to both of us. Recently, the band was getting too tight and instinctively I moved it to a smaller finger. Fearing I would lose it in the night, I moved it back. Reluctantly, I put it in her jewelry box. As with all it represents, I treasure this ring too much to toss it in the sock drawer until I've spent a few more hours working out.

Hopefully it will only be there for a short time. In the meantime, I know she'll understand that as long as the only thing that comes between us is the One who binds us together and remains at the center of our life together, it's OK to peek inside her jewelry box for a reminder of what it means to love one more than all our stuff.

When I looked down at my hand, I realized why something did not feel right. The ring I had worn for more than two decades was not there. The last I remembered seeing it was in the men's room a few hours earlier.

I had taken up the habit of moving the ring to the "pinky" finger whenever it felt too tight. It probably fell into the drain unnoticed in the confusion of a crowded facility and the rush to get back to work. Whatever the reason, I was without my most treasured posession -- my wedding ring.

It seemed like months, those moments of realization that my finger was bare. Now, the only evidence of my enduring marriage was the fading "band" around my finger where the ring once was. It remained so until summer when my wife gave me a small box as an anniversary gift.

As I opened it, my eyes welled up. The "new" ring had a saphire and a ruby -- our birthstones -- with a diamond representing the Lord between them on a silver band that wrapped across its top. Inside, she had the jeweler inscribe, "Jesus, be the center". It was beautiful to me and it remains so to this day.

Years later, changing weight or maybe a shrinking ring made it necessary to remove the wedding band. I didn't dare put it on a smaller finger so I put it in the safest place I knew -- her jewelry box. Guys, here's a clue: If you ever need to remove your wedding band, your wife's jewelry box is not the safest place to put it. I found myself having to apologize for the unpleasant message putting the ring among her jewelry sent.

It gave me an opportunity to reassure her that through difficult times, this enduring symbol of our love and committment to one another and to the Lord was a thing to be treasured and cared for. I was not "returning" the gift but entrusting it to her. All is well and good, but now I know it is helpful to explain why I am taking the ring off and why I put it in her box.

Looking back, I know it was an insensitive -- typical guy -- thing to do. Yet there remains an intangible keepsake in her jewelry box. The memory of just how much this simple symbol means to both of us. Recently, the band was getting too tight and instinctively I moved it to a smaller finger. Fearing I would lose it in the night, I moved it back. Reluctantly, I put it in her jewelry box. As with all it represents, I treasure this ring too much to toss it in the sock drawer until I've spent a few more hours working out.

Hopefully it will only be there for a short time. In the meantime, I know she'll understand that as long as the only thing that comes between us is the One who binds us together and remains at the center of our life together, it's OK to peek inside her jewelry box for a reminder of what it means to love one more than all our stuff.