With This Ring

Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate. (Mark 10:9)

I’m always intrigued by the interesting information I find while surfing around the internet and today is no exception. Just in time for Valentine’s Day, I learned a fascinating tidbit of information about the wedding ring tradition.

A poignant legend offers a detailed explanation and a thought provoking exercise to demonstrate why wedding rings are worn on the fourth finger. According to the legend each finger represents a familial relationship. The thumbs represent your parents, the index fingers represent your siblings, the middle fingers represent you, the ring fingers represent your spouse, and the pinky fingers represent your children.

To illustrate the span of these relationships, give this exercise a try.

• Open your hands and place them together, palm to palm.
• Bend the middle fingers and hold them together joint to joint.
  
• Keep the tips of the pinky fingers, ring fingers, index fingers, and thumbs together.

Remember that the middle fingers represent you and your spouse. Now…

• Separate your thumbs. They will part because after years of nurturing, your parents will eventually open the door for you and release you into the world.
• Bring your thumbs back together.
• Separate your index fingers. They will part because you and your siblings will one day separate in order to pursue your own goals.
• Bring your index fingers back together.
• Separate your pinky fingers. They will part because sooner or later your children will leave your care and begin families of their own.
• Bring your pinky fingers back together.
• Now try to separate your ring fingers. You will find that they will not part. This is because God intends for husbands and wives to remain together all of their lives.

Though this explanation and exercise are based upon a legend, I love the message it conveys! Praise God for his gift of marriage and the joy He intends it to bring to both husbands, wives, and their families!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

 

© 2014, Andrea Thorpe. All rights reserved.