Why I Still Wear My Puirty Ring

Yes, another cliche post in the unending debate of purity and abstinence that will pop up on your facebook news feed every once in a while. I admit, occasionally I skim them (I rarely actually read them, but instead just try to get the highlights and major points,) but still every so often an argument for or against the decision or "pledge" of purity will catch my eye on my news feed. I have worn my purity ring since I was given it on my thirteenth birthday, I'm turning twenty-one soon and the ring is still slipped onto my finger every day after my morning shower. It's a fixation to my look, my college ring on my right hand my purity ring on the left - securing the place for my future wedding ring. I have read the discussions from women who no longer choose to wear their purity rings, saying they feel that it is a symbol of a false hood given to them in their teenage years. That it is a symbol that tells them their worth is from marriage and a man, that if they save their virginity than sex on their wedding night is going to be the best sex since sex began. I see the point, I'm not even going to argue because I think to some people it is that way; I'm also not going to tell you that I still wear my purity ring because I am waiting for someone - THE one, God's one and only - because I don't think it's that way for everyone either. I'm simply going to share a thought that came to me this morning on the subject. Today as I was driving to work I looked down at my purity ring, worn from years of use with scratches and small chunks missing that I thought, "this thing is so old and beat up maybe I should chuck it and get a newer one." thenit occurred to me - my ring is no longer clean and shiny as it was when I was thirteen because I'm no longer the clean and shiny girl I was when I got my ring. Don't get me wrong, I haven't gone off the deep-end or anything, but life (as it has a funny way of doing) has beat my heart up. I looked at my ring, really looked at it in a way I haven't in a while and I understood something. My ring is a cross and a heart connected, and up until now I always thought of it as God protecting my "heart" and by heart I meant the virginity aspect of it, the part I was giving to my future husband. But today I saw it and realized that this ring - beat up as it is, reflects how God HAS been protecting my heart. Not just through the boys that have flitted in and out my life leaving small scratches upon my heart, but also through the daily acts of living; the loving, the crying, the anger and the passion. Years ago when my mom gave me "the talk" she showed me two paper hearts, one she ripped and tore the other was pure and clean; she asked me "which do you want to give your future husband," well duh! The clean one! As I've gone through my high school and college career I saw every guy I liked and then let go of as another bruise upon that perfect heart, another mistake that was going to effect my future marriage. Today I realized that my heart is pure and clean because I have Christ as the stronghold of my heart - HE is the protector and the Almighty Healer. As I looked at my purity ring at that stop light on Quaker and 4th I realized that my purity ring is no longer just about my choice of saving my virginity for my future husband, it is about the choice of accepting Christ's grace and mercy and allowing HIM to protect my heart even beyond when I get married. THAT is why I choose to still wear my purity ring - as a reminder of God's unfailing love, grace and mercy.