Just before my dad died, he told my mum he wanted her to put his wedding ring on. They had bought it 66 years ago way back in 1946 for £5, and it never left his finger, still worn with pride, although it is now very thin, worn and bent and the pattern long gone. It kept slipping off his spidery thin fingers; he was anxious for it not to be lost.

In contrast mine has been known to slip off  (I’m on my third wedding ring after just 43 years of marriage !!) – and I’m praying I won’t lose it before tomorrow, the 28th March, our wedding anniversary or else I’ll be a dead man walking!

Dad’s ring was simple; it didn’t cost much – just a life time of learning how to love one woman. Not easy. Lots of biting the tongue, and doing the washing up!  But the value of that ring is priceless. Dad knew that he who finds a wife finds a good thing, and he intended to keep her.

Tomorrow I start out on my 44th year as a husband and then on the 11th April we will move away from our family, church, friends, neighbours, people we’ve known for years. It will be strange to walk to the shops and not hear two or three people call out ‘Hello Pastor Les’, and have children calling in on their way home from school to play with our dog Disney. It”ll be strange for Ann to go to the supermarket and not know the check out ladies and the names of their husbands and children.

It’ll just be Ann and me again; the two of us, just like it started out 43 years ago. With a wedding ring, and a trust in the Lord for the new thing he has promised to do in us after a time of resting and rebuilding.

Its a bit scary; please keep holding our wobbly ladder for us!