Yesterday morning, I left the house wearing two earrings. At least, I know I put two in when I got dressed. I picked up my dad for breakfast, then came to the church. I didn’t notice anything missing when I looked in the mirror, and when I talked with people (including some of you), no one said a word. But last night, when I was getting ready for bed, I discovered I only had one earring.
Now the mystery begins.
Where did it go? Did it fall out in the car? In the driveway? At the church, when I was getting ready? Or was it later, after I got home? Did it disappear early in the day or just moments before bedtime? The frustrating thing isn’t simply that one earring is gone. It’s the realization that by the time I eventually find the missing one, I will probably have already thrown away its lonely partner.
And, wait for it … That’s often how faith feels.
We lose something important gradually, quietly, almost unnoticed. Joy slips away. Patience becomes more impatient. Hope disappears somewhere between breakfast and bedtime. We don’t always know when it happened. We simply wake up one day aware that, while we still have faith, something part of it is missing. And we want it back.
And yet, unlike my missing earring, God never throws anything, or anyone, away.
Jesus told stories about lost sheep, lost coins, and lost sons to remind us that God is a seeker. God loves us so much that God notices absence. God holds onto those present and searches for the missing. More importantly, God does not ignore us or give up on us while we’re waiting to be found.
Sometimes we feel like the lost earring — disconnected, feeling discarded (if an earring could feel0, and somewhere between where we started and where we ended up. Other times, we’re the earring left behind, wondering if what has been lost will ever return and wondering what our future will hold.
But grace has a way of reuniting what life scatters.
Perhaps that’s why Scripture so often calls us to “hold fast.” Not because we never lose things, but because God refuses to lose us.
“Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.” (Luke 15:6).
In the meantime, if you find a lost earring at the church, please return it to its rightful owner. It is missed.
Prayer: Lord, when pieces of faith, hope, or joy seem to slip away unnoticed, remind me that you are always searching, always restoring, always holding on to me. Teach me to trust your grace even in the small frustrations and mysteries of life. And Lord… help me find whatever in my faith that is missing. Amen.
