Leslie Weatherhead told the story of two ministers touring the Welsh mountains who came across a young shepherd boy who they engaged in conversation. They soon discovered that he never had the benefits of an education, either in school or Sunday School. So the ministers began to tell the boy about God in the simplest of terms. As they were leaving, they said to him,

"Just remember five words and think of each word as standing for the thumb and fingers on your left hand and with your right hand grasp the thumb and fingers, one by one, as you say the words, ‘The Lord is my shepherd.'"

The ministers thought nothing more of it until the next year when they, once again, were in the same mountains and sought out the boy. Upon inquiring around the village, they discovered that the boy had died in a severe blizzard earlier in the year. When he was discovered, the rescuers reported that he was found with his right hand firmly grasping the ring finger on his left hand.

In the midst of great pain and anguish, in the horror of natural disasters or the sobering clarity of unmitigated honesty, the knowledge that the Lord is my shepherd is entrance into the kingdom of heaven, the promise of grace.

The ring finger of the left hand.

A curious coincidence that it is on this finger that we place the symbol of faithfulness. A reminder of our vow that no matter what lies ahead...for richer or poorer, in sickness or in health...we promise to be faithful.

In a broken and battered world, such promises are difficult to keep. But this symbol can serve to remind us of a greater faithfulness.

It is the promise of Christ.

It is the promise that God never fails to be faithful to us.