Lost and Found

(By: Deborah Durrett)

           It was a warm autumn day, and people gathered to celebrate with a couple who were committing their lives to one another. They filled the small college chapel and awaited the bride to be brought in, to begin the ceremony. There were a couple brief delays, as often happens with weddings. First, there was the true rumor that the bride forgot her veil, and the groom went to retrieve it. Next was an incident with a fabric steamer and the wedding dress-already wrapped around her. And finally, before the journey up the steps and down the first path of the marital journey, they were all awaiting the bride’s Uncle, who was incorrectly rumored as having no pants on. But instead, he brought the wrong pair of pants-jeans, in fact. At least, it gave rise to a smile that bode well in the photo of that moment she walked toward her soon-to-be husband, patiently waiting for her.

          That memory snippet was part of a day I cherish. It is something that comes to mind when I see my wedding ring. Imagine my surprise, when waking up this past Monday, and realizing after breakfast that it was missing. In my mind, I replayed my steps from the evening before. I remembered walking to the kitchen after getting cleaned up, and retrieving it from a dish on the counter behind the sink area go-to spot other than my jewelry box. I realized I had not put it back on after doing yardwork, when I was about to put lotion on my hands. I still, though, do not recall the act of slipping the ring back on my finger. I was not myself at the time, rather worn out. For the next twenty-four hours or more, I scoured every inch of the upstairs, thinking of any place it could be. I became mortified at a certain point, after nearly three decades of wearing it, with only the occasional removal for safe keeping. Later that day, after also becoming disturbed by areas in the house that clearly needed vacuuming, I set off to make myself more useful for a bit, and to take my mind off things. I started in the back bedroom, and was praying to God about showing me where the little treasure was, in the timing best suited to me. As I got to the last spot to complete that room, a horrific clanging began coming from the bottom of the vacuum cleaner-as if the machine were coming apart. I quickly turned it off and raised the bottom, and there was my wedding ring! Relief and joy filled my heart, yet I also realized it is more to me than merely a symbol of our love-it’s a circle encompassing one of the hands that is part of cherished memories. We chose the rings together. We chose the date we wanted to start our life together. We chose where we would go first on a honeymoon. It was a big part of the story we started as a couple, following a sordid past of starts and stops before we ever exchanged those rings. It was us coming full circle to what was clearly our destiny in God’s will, six years after we met. And so, I will remember this added bit of the story all over again in years to come- the joy of finding that precious symbol of two lives becoming one.

          I wonder how God feels when his children feel lost and alone. When they struggle as they travel with him, or pull away from him, find him for the first time, or even say he does not exist. I believe he is a gentleman, yet he finds ways to seek them out and to show them he loves them as a Father should. He knows what matters to each one of us, and what makes us all tick. 

     The other day, I must have needed a reminder of the value of my marriage. And as precious as my husband is to me, in that reminder, there is also a deeper meaning in the ‘lost’ and then ‘found’ ring: commitment. Not just to each other, but to God. And ultimately his goal was finding a way to have ‘anyone’ found who was lost to him- so they could then be with him eternally, as originally intended with his creating each soul. I may still lose stuff or get sent the wrong directions with the GPS, but my eternal future is right where it belongs. Is yours? Can people you know, and those who do not know you, tell your life has meaning to you?

           “So, Jesus told them this story: ‘If a man has a hundred sheep and one gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.” Luke 15:3-6 NLT

         “In the same way, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who changes both heart and life than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need to change their hearts and lives.”  Luke 15:7 CEB

“Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham.  For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.” Luke 19:9-10 LSB