This Ring: An Ending

Wedding_ringsThis meditation is to be said on the act of removing a wedding band. My goal: a prayer versatile enough to be used either after a divorce or after the death of a life partner. To be successful, the prayer would therefore need to acknowledge a range of emotions, allowing individuals to hear and say the prayer from the perspective of their own life experiences. The first line of the prayer honors the act of putting on the ring, thus acknowledging the hopes and dreams of the past – the binding that requires an unbinding – creating the raison d’être for this prayer. This appears in my new book This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day from CCAR Press.

This Ring: An Ending
When I put this ring on my finger
I wrapped it around my heart.

In removing this ring from my finger
I release my heart
With grief and joy,
Uncertainty and faith,
In unequal measures.

Ancient One,
God of compassion and grace,
Let this moment be a blessing
So that healing continues
To flow into my hours and days.
Grant me the strength and insight
To honor the past and embrace the future
With dignity and passion,
Wisdom and thanksgiving,
Kindness and charity.
Then, God of wholeness and healing,
I will return to song and dance,
Laughter and praise,
As a beacon of Your light,
A source of joy, hope and love.

© 2017 CCAR Press from This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers For a New Day

Postscript: This prayer might also be used after removing an engagement ring. Thanks to my friend Rabbi Ruth Abusch-Magder for the idea for this prayer. Thanks to my dear cousin Irwin Keller for his comments and suggestions on an early draft of this prayer. Here’s a prayer “For Bereaved Children,” for healing the grief of our children, appropriate for parents to say whether the loss is by death or divorce.

Please check out my Meet the Author video and This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day. For reprint permissions and usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” To receive my latest prayers via email, please subscribe (on the home page). You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter.

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