Lost and Found
"And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, "Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin." Luke 15:9 (NIV)
The last three weeks have been a blur for me. Prior to Bruce's hernia surgery, we had finally ordered new hardwood floors to replace our twenty year old carpet. What we hadn't counted on was Bruce's surgery and the resulting instructions not to lift anything heavier than a milk jug. Bruce and I have lived in the same house for 24 years and raised four kids here. That meant a lot of stuff had accumulated- some of it ours and some of it belonging to our adult children. The bottom line was a lot of packing boxes and moving the 24 years worth of "stuff." And once we moved it and the floors were replaced, we had to decide what to keep, what to discard, and what to give away.
In 1994, our first year in this house, Bruce gave me a small pair of diamond earrings. I loved those earrings and wore them most of the time. The earrings were more sentimental than valuable, because they always reminded me of our first year here. Our money was really, really tight, but somehow Bruce managed to give me those earrings for that first Christmas. Through the years, those earrings reminded me not only of Bruce's love and provision, but also of God's faithfulness. Somehow, we made it financially to the other side of mortgages, cars, college, and weddings. Then one day about three years ago, I looked in my bathroom mirror and realized that one of my diamond earrings was missing. I frantically searched my bathroom floor, bedroom dresser, and jewelry box. I combed through my bedroom carpet on my hands and knees, but didn't find it. I finally removed the other diamond earring and put it away in my jewelry box just in case the other earring ever showed up. I bought a cheap pair of pearl earrings and decided to make do with those.
Last Monday when I left for work, the flooring folks were almost finished with our hardwood installation. Our closet carpets still had to be replaced, but most of the work was done. Bruce and I had been amazed at how hard the flooring company's folks had worked. The workers were a husband and wife team, immigrants from another country, who have six children ages 19 to 3 months, one of whom has special needs. Their two year old son, much like James Bruce, has a genetic anomaly on chromosome 16 and is on the autism spectrum. The mom, Aleida, was encouraged to meet James Bruce. As she worked, Aleida asked lots of questions about special needs education, therapies, expectations, and how to deal with the fear of the unknown. We talked a lot about prayer and trusting God with all of our children, especially the special needs kids. I gave Aleida Bible Bits and Bible Bits for Holidays books hoping to encourage her in her special needs parenting journey. And I marveled at God's grace in using James Bruce's life once again to encourage someone else.
Monday afternoon I got home hoping to see the finished product. Our workers had gone for the day, but Bruce said that Aleida left me something. I thought it might be a thank you note for the books, but was shocked when Bruce handed me my missing diamond earring.
"Alieda pulled the carpet out of your closet and found this," Bruce told me. "She knew it was real."
What was lost was found! And oh, the joy of the gift was multiplied. The earring once given to me by my husband now has been given to me again. Not just by an honest immigrant, hard working,special needs Mom, but by a gracious God. Throughout our entire renovation process, I have been working on a Fall teaching series entitled Lessons in Luke. All of a sudden, the academic details of Jesus' parables found in Luke 15- a lost sheep, a lost coin, a lost son- became reality in my heart. The joy, relief, excitement and yes, even wonder, of something lost being found was something I will always remember and cherish. And now, when I teach lessons from Luke 15, I won't just be sharing head knowledge, I will be able to share heart knowledge as well.
Luke 15 is indeed about something lost being found. But the real joy in Luke 15 isn't our joy; it's the joy of heaven, not when something is found, but when someOne is found. John Newton, former slave trader, understood the joy of Luke 15 when he penned the lyrics to the most beloved hymn ever:
Amazing Grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me;
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.
Amazing grace indeed!