Finding What's Been Lost

Good morning

It’s around this time in the morning that I can often hear our labrador begin to move downstairs, padding round the kitchen in anticipation of that first walk of the day.

This usually takes us to the nearby golf course. We wind our way through the rougher grass that grows beneath the trees that demarcate the fairways. These are the places golfers hope to avoid, their presence here bears testimony to a mis-directed swing, but because of that, this is also where the many lost balls can be found.

All of this reminds me of the stories Jesus told about things that had gone missing: a wayward sheep, a mislaid coin and even a lost and prodigal son. In every parable there is much lament over what or who cannot be found, and then the weeping gives way to great rejoicing when that which was lost is finally recovered.

Sometimes as I return a missing ball to the tee that lies closest to my house, I pause to reflect on what I may have lost sight of in my own life: what mis-hit hope or poorly swung ambition lies forgotten in the rough parts of my life, waiting to be recovered and put to use again. It’s not a bad reflection with which to begin a day but perhaps it’s not so good to linger there too long,

Because we are not destined to stay lost. And neither are the hopes for what we might yet become. So, as I return each recovered ball, I remember to give thanks for God, for the someone who might unexpectedly find what’s been lost in me and who will bring me back rejoicing to where I truly belong.

Dear God
who is forever searching out the good in us:
restore to us our greatest possibilities this morning
return us to our deepest purposes today
and help us to discover afresh
the lost treasures
that lie within one another
Amen