My heart raced. Panic swelled within me. My stomach lurched. Where was my little girl? My precious baby? Horrendous thoughts permeated my mind. ‘Lord!’ I screamed from within. ‘Help!’
My 4-year-old daughter was missing.
One cloudy Sunday afternoon, my husband and 3-year-old son decided to go for a walk. Wrapping themselves in warm attire, they grabbed my son’s balance bike and off they went. They chose to amble along the usual family route – to the end of our street, up the steep walkway, down the hill and back to our house.
They asked my daughter if she wanted to join them. She expressed her decline, so they left for their brief outing. A few minutes later, she suddenly had second thoughts about her choice.
“Mummy, I want to go with them!” she said, “Can I quickly get on my scooter and race after them?”“Sure,” I replied, “You know the way. Just be quick and get going.”
She ran to the garage, snatched her scooter and shot off like a bullet.
About 15 minutes later my husband and son arrived home from their brisk jaunt.
“Where’s Abi?” I asked, beginning to sense a rising fear within me.“I thought she was with you?” my husband said, seemingly notfazed by anything (my husband rarely shows emotions of any kind).
Words I wouldn’t normally use began to fill the air. “I’ll keep Ethan here with me, you go looking for her!” I shouted at him. My husband was probably more frightened of my reaction than momentarily losing his daughter, so he bolted off in the direction of the walk they had just completed.
Just a minute or two later, he ran back, puffing and panting. “I’ll go get the car. Much easier to go looking for her,” he gasped.
I stood on the driveway, my arms tightly wrapped around my son, pleading with God. “Please let him find her soon, please, please!” We waited, glued to the ground. It felt like the longest moment of my life. The clouds looked darker and more ominous.
My darling girl, please let Daddy find you, you’ll be OK my sweetheart.
Finally, my husband’s car pulled up in the driveway. The rear door opened, and my daughter stumbled out. She was visibly upset and traumatized. I sprinted toward her, took hold of her, and breathed out a cry of relief.
“Oh sweetheart, what happened? Are you OK? Why didn’t you catch up to Daddy and Ethan?” A screed of questions and expressions of concern tumbled out of my mouth. “Mama,” she sobbed, “I didn’t know where to go. I stood outside a house and just cried. A lady in her garden saw me and came over to me. She got another lady too and they helped me. And then Daddy came along.” In the middle of her tears, she explained to me what had happened.
I was delirious and overjoyed that she was back with us. I celebrated her coming home with a hot chocolate and more chocolate treats. She was lost but now had been found.
Found
I am very sure everybody has lost a child briefly. Can you recall the sheer joy of finding them again? Perhaps you have lost something that you desperately needed to find (the good old house or car keys as a prime example). I am forever losing items of clothing (do washing machines and dryers actually consume washing?), kitchen necessities, documents (the ones I need right now) and many other miscellaneous possessions. It doesn’t help when our family moved from Auckland to Christchurch – there was even more missing!
More often than not, I become increasingly angry and frustrated when I can’t locate what I need. So I give up and try telling myself that it wasn’t important in the first place. What’s more annoying is that my husband will find it a short while later (perhaps a pair of fresh eyes to see what I am unable to see).
These stories of the lost and found make me think about a number of parables that Jesus told. The classic teachings of the lost coin, the lost son and the lost sheep. The one that has drawn me in is the parable of the lost coin.
“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 neighbours 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 chapter 15, verses 8-10).
It is widely known that the woman may have received these coins as a wedding present. So for her to have lost one would have made her very anxious. Jesus’ audience would have understood why she turned her house completely upside down to find it! What inexpressible joy and elation she had when it was found!
In the same way, Jesus is greatly saddened by those who have been lost to the world, but He rejoices when we choose to be welcomed into His loving presence. Nothing compares to the mutual and eternal joy that we find in our relationship with Jesus. Hallelujah, we have been found!