Luke 15:8-10
You know how that moment feels, that long moment after your last glance of your child in the department store, when you suddenly realize that she’s slipped away from your sight. Or recall that moment when your wedding band slips off your finger and starts rolling towards the shower drain. Whatever the circumstances, that long moment between realizing something is lost (or about to be) and the point of finding it again is of utmost importance.
When something is misplaced, its value seems to rise in your mind. The time span between losing and finding can seem excruciatingly long, even if lasts just a few seconds, and is often punctuated by your increased heartbeat and frantic actions.
In this parable of the lost coin, what the woman does in the time between losing and finding is what piques my interest. She lights a lamp, sweeps the house, and searches carefully until she finds what she’s missing. What we do in the time between losing and finding is crucial, whether we have lost an object, our child, or some part of ourselves that we cherish.
Like losing a precious object, when we feel that something within us is lost, we may first go into panic mode or depression. That reaction is necessary, but then we must begin the search. We must light the lamp, clean out the inner nooks and crannies of our lives, and search until we find that lost part of ourselves—the part that seems separated from God.
The process of seeking and finding our connection to God is holy work. To recover this lost coin within ourselves involves sitting in the in-between time until we discover that God has been there all the while.
Consider
What part of you feels lost today? How can you sit with God and continue your search?
Pray
Ever-seeking God, please show me the lost places within myself. Guide me to know how to sit in the in-between spaces of my life and seek you. Amen.