October 10, 2018

Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? – Luke 15:8

This passage came to mind yesterday morning when we were, yet again, confronted with a missing piece of our lives.

You would think that, for as much as we have moved, we wouldn't have this problem. You take all of the “Important Stuff” and put it in its own box, label it, and hand deliver it to where it needs to go. Well, it seems I get the first part of that right, but then we have trouble locating the box or the things that were supposed to go in that box.

To date I/we have lost new credit cards, bills, the checkbook, passbook, and various other needed things. So far, all but one of those things have turned up. And between the, “Have you seen …” and, “Hey! I found it!” there has been a lot of anxiety, some general bad language, and a promise to not do this next time (which, God willing, won't be for a good long while).

We are human. We lose things. Sometimes we lose important things. That loss can drive us into a place of perpetual anxiety. What if someone else finds my credit cards? What if my checkbook falls into the wrong hands? What if I've permanently lost my passbook? What if? What if? What if?

In today's world that is a very real concern with the ever-present possibility of identity theft.

But more often than not, and certainly in my case as we move from Point A to Point B, and in the case of the woman in the parable, what has been lost is “somewhere around here.” It was in a box when we left, it has to be in that box now. I saw it here somewhere. We just need to take some time, slow down, and do a thorough search.

Sometimes our faith journey is that same way. In our spiritual journey things get moved around, put away, or lost. Sometimes we think those are very important parts of our faith. Sometimes they are. And sometimes that loss can send us into an anxiety-driven tailspin about our faith in general.

The trick is to not get so anxious that we quit looking. For it is in the looking that we will find it. It is, after all, a faith journey, not a faith destination.

Blessings,