Are You NECK-ED?????

I had a very, um…I’ll say uncomfortable for now, thing happen to me today.  Maybe a few other things, but I’ll let you be the judge. 

As we all know, tax season is nearing so everyone’s got to go get those little devils taken care of before April 15^th, which depending on your personal situation is either a day of celebration or a day of doom.  We had gathered the necessary documents, including Paxton obtained a Power of Attorney so he wouldn’t have to miss work and I could represent us both.  I arrived about 9:15 this morning, filled out the sheet given to me, and then was called back to meet Wes the tax dude.

We headed to his desk and I began telling him about OUR tax situation.  “We have sort of unique circumstances, and I hope you can help me with it.  See, I won a bunch of stuff on the Price Is Right in May, and I have all the info for that, but we’re just concerned about how much the tax cost will be,” I laughed at his surprise about the game show.  “You won the Price Is Right?!?” He asked me in disbelief, “that is so stinkin’ cool!”  We both laughed and he said, “High Five!” And as soon as my left hand hit his left hand…I saw it. 

I’d forgotten my rings. 

I was NECK-ED!  Nope, not a typo.  That’s how I say it and that’s how I FELT!  Utterly exposed! 

Maybe I’m the only one, but when I don’t have my rings on, it seriously bothers me.  Not that I have to have them there to remind me I’m, duh, married, or duh, graduated college.  But it’s…it’s a comfort.  Almost a sort of protection.

“When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.  She aslo gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.  Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.  Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.  But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”  And he said, “Who told you that you were naked?  Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”  Genesis 3: 4-11. 

The discomfort I felt without my ring made me think of this occurrence in the Bible.  Albeit, I wasn’t REALLY neck-ed…I just felt it.  And you know?  Adam and Eve may have TRULY been naked…but it wasn’t until evil was brought in and made a part of the world that they even noticed.  But the craziest part about it…they never would have needed the darn clothes if they woulda just done what they was TOLD!  Jeez! 

But wait…isn’t it kind of the same thing with my jewelry, and more specifically…my wedding band?  I mean, think about it…isn’t a ring just supposed to be a symbol anyway?  That’s what my preacha’ man told us the day we got married.  So why then?  Well, I had something happen to me only a few short hours later that made me question this even further…

So after I left I immediately went home and put my rings of protection back on (yuk, yuk) and headed out to do some writing.  Well, this was earlier around like 11:30/noon.  I OBVIOUSLY didn’t write then because I had a slight distraction (and discomfort) and decided it best to hit the high road outta that joint. 

When I write I like to be out in public, typically a coffee shop, a restaurant…somewhere there are conversations going on around me.  I like the white noise and inspiration it provides.  But today…it did QUITE the opposite.  So I went to this restaurant, like a pub and grill, because I figured I might eat lunch or at the least if I WAS writing, get it to go.  Nope.  Not today. 

This fella was sitting at the bar, along with another woman, and the bartender.  I was sitting at a small table directly beside the bar.  So, small crowd.  We had all sorta chatted a little when the bartender squeezed lime into his eye (ouch, right?!), but I was really trying to figure out WHAT I was going to write about today.  And then, silly me, I spill water all over the table reaching for it.  So, panicky about my precious computer I rushed to the bar for towels and napkins.  Well, bar dude (which I later found out was Timmy…all I could think of was A Christmas Carol after that, teeheehee) comes to help me some with the bartender.  I have no idea what he started talking about…I have no idea what possessed this man to move and seat himself next to me…but he did.  Then he offered to buy me a drink. 

Need I remind anyone I replaced the missing wedding band at this point?  Guess not…he didn’t seem to mind. 

So here’s Beth Ann’s bullet point for the day:  ever since the day the evil came into the world…nothing can protect us from sin.  Not fig leaves…not wedding bands.  When people choose to ignore things, sin will occur.  Which, not to harp on the multitude of divorces that occur in this day and age, but isn’t it so blatantly obvious how many wedding bands are being ignored to begin with?  So remember this…the only true protection we have is Jesus Christ and His love, and even He can’t prevent evil from harming us.  Just like we have to keep choosing to be in love with our spouse every day, ring or not, we have to keep choosing to trust Jesus and His protection in our lives.