I remember the moment she placed the ring on my finger as we vowed our love to each other. I hardly notice the ring when I’m wearing it, but I’m keenly aware of its absence when I take it off. The ring has left a noticeable mark on me. I have a tan line where it belongs. My finger looks naked and alien without it. But it’s mark on my life goes deeper than just my skin. It’s a reminder of the day when two decided to become one. It’s a token of the love I hold and that is held for me. It’s a symbol of the vows we made and the vows we intend to keep. A witness of the man I was and who I choose to be.

We build museums and monuments for the same reasons. To remember and to promise. To look back so we know the path forward. God set the rainbow in the sky as a reminder of the horrors of human evil and the lengths he took to stop it. He set the rainbow as a witness of the promise He made to Noah, to never again destroy all His creation with a devastating flood. A reminder of who we were, and who God chooses to be despite that. A promise woven in refracted light.

God uses moments and symbols like this rainbow to reveal His identity. For what is identity other than collected experience, choices and memory informing us of character. Whether it be the rainbow in the sky, the ark of the covenant, the thousands of pages of ancient Scripture, or the splintered cross He carried and died on. God wants us to remember and know: who He is and what He’s done, all for love.

Why? He wants these stories and memories to inform our decisions and character, to change us, to be at the centre of our own identity. On the night Jesus was betrayed to die, He shared a meal with His closest friends and told them to continue sharing this meal in remembrance of Him. In remembering Him, His disciples were called to become like Him. Wine and bread to blood and flesh; a reminder of the sacrifice made and the sacrifices to come.

The band on my finger is a reflection of the relationship I have with the God who placed the band in the sky, and by His blood, placed a band around my heart. I am called to remember His promises, to know Him intimately and to be transformed by Him. May my memory never run short.