Losing Stuff

It’s always stressful, and I misplace things almost every day. When I misplace something, it is a loss. I stand and gaze, not believing I can’t find my ring, poem, keys, whatever is missing.

I usually find them, but meanwhile, I am stressed. I feel like a lost child myself. I do not know where to begin to find the lost notebook, flashlight, phone, whatever. Now and then, it feels like I’m losing my marbles. Both of them!

This problem is not new to me. It has been with me since I was a kid. I was from a big family, so anything could be lost in the shuffle. Hey, even I could get lost in the shuffle.

It was common to lose homework, books, sweaters, lipstick.

I’d get in trouble at home for losing things. By the way, parents, that never helped. What helped was when a friend, mother, or sister would help me search for what was lost without shaming or giving advice.

All this to say, I doubt that it is an aging problem for me. . . well, not yet. It may become one, of course. I am a big picture person, not a detail person. It’s true, but I smile at how I’ve justified my losses with this line so many times.

My children grew up hearing me ask, “Would you help me find my eyeglasses, my checkbook, the grocery list?” I never lost a blue sky, yellow daffodil, or God, but everything else could be lost. Even bits of wisdom can fly out the window when I most need them.

This last week a friend temporarily lost her flash drive. It was missing, so it was lost. “It has everything on it!” she said. I heard her. It would mean great trouble to lose it. She’d been at my house, so I started retracing our every step. praying to find it as I looked in the dining area, on the counter, on the porch, by the flower bed where we’d checked the irises, in the driveway. No flash drive. Meanwhile, she would look in her car, her house. No rest for her until it was found. A happy ending: it was exactly where she’d put it to keep it “safe.”

Don’t you love it? Can’t we all identify with her story?

The lost coin story in the Bible came to my mind. Now it was time to celebrate, time to laugh, a time to be thankful.

The good news on losing stuff: No matter how minor or how serious the loss, I can go to God in prayer about it and ask Him to take care of it, keep it safe, help me find it. After all, He knows about lost things. So I am learning to pray to Him about such things. Maybe one day I’ll turn to Him before I start the search. Oh, my! Exactly what I need to do!

Photo by Pat Durmon on Shipps Drive, Norfork, Arkansas, January 27, 2017.