Have you ever lost something valuable and didn't find it? Around our house, I am usually the one who finds lost things. If an earring is lost, or car keys, or cell phone or whatever, I am asked to find it and I usually do. In fact, I have found several very valuable things.
I read in a recent Reader's Digest of a woman named Lena who was tossing some stunted carrots from her garden onto her compost heap. Seeing something glitter, she picked up one of the carrots and found it had grown through a ring - her own long lost wedding band! Sixteen years earlier she had lost the ring and it had apparently had gotten mixed in some dust that ended up in her garden. She had given up all hope of finding it and had never replaced it. Now it had come back to her wrapped around a carrot!
Four years after we were married my wife and I had gotten a box of sweet corn from a member's field. Coming into the house, my she was alarmed to discover the diamond from her wedding ring had fallen out. She had no idea when it could have happened, so I retraced her steps carefully with a flashlight, beginning with where she was standing. I had taken only a few steps towards the garage door when I saw her half-carat diamond upside down on the floor right next to our clothes dryer. Another inch and it would have disappeared underneath, probably never to be found in the dust.
About ten years ago I conducted a funeral for a member who had an adult daughter in a wheelchair. During the fellowship after the service she noticed the large diamond was missing from her ring and told me of it. I asked where she had just come from, and she said the restroom. So I returned there and in less than a minute found the diamond on the floor, right next to the drain. Again, another inch farther and it would have disappeared forever down the drain.
Whenever I am able to find things, it reminds me of the woman who lost a coin and rejoiced when she found it again. Jesus told that story to illustrate the joy in heaven when a lost sinner returns to the Heavenly Father. He said, "There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance." (Luke 15:7)
No matter how precious a thing may be to us, we are more precious to God our Father. He never wants His children to lose their way, but if one should, He sends His angels out to gather the lost one back. If you feel you have lost your way, look around for God. You will probably find Him already looking for your through one of His other children.
I hope you don't lose anything today!
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