Looking For What Is Lost

Many years ago, I lost a bracelet.
It was a good bracelet, though not an expensive bracelet.
It was one I wore often.
I loved the charms that hung daintily from it.

I remember the Sunday morning I was dressing for church.
I went into the drawer where I kept that bracelet.
I opened the box.
It wasn’t there.

My heart sunk.
I did a quick look in the drawer to see if perhaps the bracelet was in another place.
It was nowhere to be found.
I was so disappointed.

I am careful with my things.
I put things back where they belong.
However, my bracelet was not where it should be.
I looked in every possible nook and cranny, to no avail.

I actually found another bracelet, just like the one I lost.
It was on sale.
I bought it.
I put it in the same box that held the other bracelet.

More than a year passed.
I remember it was a wintry day.
I chose a pair of low boots to keep my feet warm.
As I pulled them from their place in my closet, I heard something clanging inside.

I reached my hand inside the boot.
To my delight, the bracelet I had lost, over a year before, was inside the boot.
There was only one possible explanation.
As I was putting something on my closet shelf, the clasp came undone and the bracelet fell.

With precise aim, the bracelet fell off my arm and into the boot.
I had not worn the boot since the previous winter.
I was delighted that my bracelet had been found.
It was nearby all along.

I thought of the bracelet as I was going through my jewelry with my daughter-in-love.
I showed her my mother’s wedding ring.
I showed her the ring I got when I was thirteen years old and stopped biting my nails.
We were enjoying the time together and laughed about the lost bracelet that was found.

I reached in the back of the drawer to show her my mother’s engagement ring.
My husband got the diamond solitaire made into a pendant for me.
This was done so I could wear it on a lovely gold chain on our wedding day.
The necklace was always kept in a long blue box.

When I went to show my daughter-in-love, I discovered the box was not there.
I looked in every nook and cranny.
I even asked her if she saw it, thinking I was missing it among the other boxes.
It was not there; my heart sunk.

Losing the bracelet was disappointing, but it was not sentimental to me at all.
This necklace is very special to me.
I looked everywhere I thought it could possibly be.
The necklace is nowhere to be found.

I went down the upstairs hallway where family pictures line the walls.
I walked down to where the wedding pictures are hung.
I looked at myself in each picture to see what necklace I was wearing.
I wore necklaces my husband gave me, but I was not wearing my mother’s diamond solitaire.

I told my husband about the lost necklace later that evening.
We both tried to think of anywhere we might have been that required me to get that dressed up.
At least for the past year, there was no such occasion.
I tried to remember if I wore that necklace on any occasion, pre-Covid?

I could not think of any place I had been where I would have worn it.
Even if the clasp broke on the necklace, it does not explain the missing blue box.
Could you have put it in a suitcase and left it there? my husband asked.
I checked the possible suitcases I would have carried but they were empty.

Could you have put it in a pocketbook? he asked.
That wasn’t possible, since I would never carry jewelry in a pocketbook.
I have absolutely no idea what happened to the long blue box with my necklace.
I know it is only a thing, but it is a special, sentimental thing to me.

I hope that as I found my bracelet in a boot an entire year later, the necklace will turn up.
It will be a wonderful story when it is found.
The necklace is probably nearby.
At least I hope it is.

Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?  And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.” In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. (Luke 15:8-10)

Jesus talked to the people in parables.
A parable is a wonderful way to teach, since people are able to see themselves in the story.
You are the lost sheep or the woman who lost the coin.
You are the lost son or perhaps his older brother.

Jesus is teaching that lost things are found.
Lost sheep are carried in the arms of the Shepherd.
Lost people come home.
Lost-ness need not be permanent.

If I delighted when I found my bracelet, can you imagine God’s delight when the lost are found?
If I will rejoice when my necklace is finally found, can you imagine the sound of Heaven rejoicing?
God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance. (Romans 2:4)
In Christ, the lost are found.

I hope the long blue box with my necklace is found.
I cannot imagine where it might be.
I will be so happy to see it in the drawer once again.
My happiness is nothing compared to the rejoicing in Heaven over a lost sinner being found.

Come Home to Him.
His arms are open to you.
There will be much rejoicing in Heaven.
You, who were once lost, will be found.