Have you ever lost something? For months? I don’t mean something simple, I mean something really important? This week it was my Passport. Thankfully I was able to search it out after only a few days. Of course, I had put it somewhere safe, I just couldn’t remember where that safe place was. Pajama drawer – who would ever look for a Passport in their pajamas? But, then I remembered thinking at the time, “Well, I will see this every time I get out clean pajamas and so I will always remember where it is”. Ha!
Last year (and I mean 2018 – seems odd to call it last year). I lost a very precious ring. The story is too long and winding to write about here but I will happily tell you the story if you ask me in person. Suffice it to say, the ring was missing for months and I was heartbroken. It turned up as unexpectedly as I had lost it. This adds to another lost ring story of about eleven years ago. Another precious ring, another heartbreak, another miraculous find. The surprising joy of finding something lost.
Three of the favourite parables of Jesus are about things lost and found – a lost coin, a lost sheep, a lost son. Many people will name one of these as their favourite story. I think that is because so many of us can relate to the story of something being lost and the heartbreak that comes with it countered by the amazing delight when said thing is found.
Jesus told these stories to illustrate God’s great love for us. It staggers me to think that the sheer, tear-filled joy that came to me when I found my lost ring paralleling the joy that God has for me when I have wandered and feel lost but then find myself again in God’s grace and love. Such wonderful stories of God’s great and amazing love. As John Newton wrote in his well-loved hymn, Amazing Grace “I once was lost but now am found.”
