Chapter 13: A Light On My Path

Page 20

I never wore another wedding ring. Needless to say, at first Jackie seemed a little suspicious I might not be telling the whole story. Yet there it

is, a simple and dumb event. Why didn’t I ever wear another wedding ring? It is simple. My heart had a wedding band wrapped around it for the entire thirty-nine years we were married. I knew it was not what was on my hand that really mattered when it came to being faithful to the love of my life.

Seven and a half years in the U.S. Navy taught me that much, just observing the behavior of sailors and my own mental considerations while traveling. I learned that it was what was in my heart that really mattered; not what was on my wedding finger.

No amount of jewelry that beckons you to loyalty will keep your heart from adultery if it is intent on sin. Now, when I was young, I can’t say that I dated a ton of young women. I certainly dated quite a few. However, I can say with absolute conviction that not a single woman in my life ever entered

into my heart except one, Jacqueline Lee Bowers. And, she entered my heart during that kiss when I was 14 and she was only 13. I knew it at the time too. I always knew that as long as she was the woman in my heart, she had nothing to worry about. Jackie came to appreciate that truth after a short

while and nothing could replace the ring she first put on my finger except the band that was wrapped around my heart. I eventually quit wearing all forms of jewelry, including even a watch.

When you think about it, the love of our life has to be in our heart or else the statement [love of our life] isn’t true. However, isn’t this fact also true for all of those you love? You bet it is. In simple terms, those who you really love have a special place in the bowels of your soul [heart]. That is

why we guard our hearts, isn’t it? We really want to be careful who it is we actually let in that close to our soul. Well, is it any wonder why God Almighty might want the same consideration from us? True love finds a place in the soul’s heart. That is what I gave to God on that spring day in the

thirty-second year of my life. I gave God my whole heart. Just like I gave Jackie my whole heart for the thirty-nine years of our marriage.

God Wants Your Whole Heart — A Loyal Heart!