LOST & FOUND

Where could it possibly be? I asked myself in mild panic as I searched for my heirloom watch. My father gave it to me for high school graduation in 1965—a traditional gift in that era. He even had my name and graduation year inscribed on the back. So yes, it was special to me and I'd just recently had $60 of repair service on it. But I couldn't find it. I have about four spots where I put it when I take it off to do dishes or yard work. It was in none.

Could I have possibly (and absentmindedly) tossed it in the trash? I went through the kitchen garbage (which included a broken glass and other “yuck” stuff). I took a “grabber” tool out to the big garbage bin, full of thorny rose clippings, and searched there. Then back inside, on a hunch, to go through my dresser drawers. Third drawer down (my “sock drawer”) I caught a glimpse of silver. There it was.

Apparently I'd stacked my just washed and “rolled/tucked” socks on top of the dresser. (No, I don't gently and lovingly fold and stack socks as though they had personality--like a current “organizer” fad advises.) When I grabbed them to move them to the third drawer, my watch (in its usual place on top) got grabbed with the whole bunch. And there it languished in the darkness.

In my frantic search for the watch I could identify with a lady in one of Jesus' parables in Luke 15. In those days, women wore headbands with coins on them. Brides wore them for their wedding attire, and hung onto them as a “savings account” for dire emergencies. With no welfare checks in those days, those coins were a valuable possession. No wonder she looked carefully, taking an oil lamp to every little dim corner of her house and listening carefully as she swept. It was a big deal when she found it. She didn't have Facebook but she did holler to friends and neighbors to come and celebrate how the lost was found.

By itself it would have been an interesting little domestic story, except for these key words in verse 16: “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Its context is also telling: it's the middle parable of three: the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. All highlight the amazing truth that God never loses sight of us, even when we go our confused and willfully wrong ways. Both the shepherd and the housewife asked others to “rejoice” when they found their lost items (vv. 6-7, 9-10). The father of the prodigal son threw a party to celebrate his son's repentance and return.

As I have re-read these Bible accounts, I am struck by the term “rejoice.” Yes, I rejoiced to find my lost watch. But have I rejoiced over others' spiritual turnarounds as much as I should? And if they seem to turn back to God, but then return to old God-rejecting habits, have I remained faithful in praying for them? This was Jesus' compelling purpose: “The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost” (Luke 19:10). Not lost heirloom watches, but lost souls of infinite value.

LOST

Sad day, sad day. My oldest grandson, age 6, had lost his most-loved stuffed animal, Gilbert the cat. He and his parents had checked the obvious places, like under his bed, in the cars, the school and church lost-and-found, and the toy piles at his home and ours. Nothing. Such a sad countenance this six-year-old had as he searched the toy stash at our house—finding nothing.

Then one night he and his two younger siblings (2 and almost 5) came for care while their parents had a “date night reprieve.” It’s always a circus of both cooperative and competitive play. He’d gotten tired of the train toys so grabbed the little barn known for the “moo” when you open its doors. I heard the “moo” and then the shout, “Gilbert!” Apparently, the last trip here for care, he’d put Gilbert in the barn for safekeeping and forgot all about it. In his “hunt” at our house, he didn’t try the barn. And his Nana had no reason to play with the barn and find it!

I’ve had a few lost-and-found episodes myself, lately. I’ve learned to assign “hot spots” for important things, but this time my “hot spot” was cold. I did eventually find the item, but what a search.  Two biblical parallels came to mind.  One was Luke 15, which offers three “lost” parables right in a row. First, the lost sheep, which represented the shepherd’s livelihood. Second, the lost coin, which probably fell off a woman’s “money”-necklace, representing her life’s emergency fund. Third, the lost (prodigal) son, for the loss of relationship. All three speak to God’s love: He won’t let go, He constantly provides, and He waits when we go off and make bad choices.

The second Biblical tie-in I sensed was the book of Philippians. As a young adult, inspired by friends who were disciplined in Bible memorization, I decided to memorize the book I’d heard called “the epistle of joy.” In what had been some very difficult years of my young life, I was seeking deeper joy. So, verse sections at time, written on 3x5 cards, I trudged through the task. Today when I read Philippians, it is an old friend, its teachings about deep-down God-focused joy returning to mind.

This seems to be its essential truth: that joy derives both from a healthy relationship with God and with others. What a statement Paul made when he wrote, “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you.” I hope people say that of me! Sadly, though, we can’t say that of everyone we meet in life. Toxic and unhappy people make the journey hard. But I cling to the truths about “lost-ness” expressed in John 15: that our passionate, compassionate God keeps giving second chances and more. 

The “found-ness” of a well-loved (and needing-washed!) Gilbert-the-stuffed-cat reminded me of that.