lost time

2013

The lost sheep and the lost coin are two parables about joy. The joy that God has for us when a messy, stuffed up person turns to him and accepts the love. We all lose things, some of us are more gifted than others in losing things. I lose my purse, handbag, keys and now, glasses frequently, in fact there are times when I think I have more lost things than found.

The joy I get when I find them is usually doubled because of the circumstances. Once I put my purse on the armrest of a wooden seat in a salubrious park, renowned as the hangout for as ‘Home & Away’ puts it – dero. Dero is short for derelict, a person broken by the storms of life, unable to function without chemical stimulation, either alcohol or drugs. Two hours after leaving it there I returned to find it exactly where it was, untouched. I left my bag in Penneys on Henry Street in Dublin and returned the next day to collect it.

Last week I parked my van at the top of the town, sometime later I walked to the top of the town to discover my van was missing. What I had forgotten was, it was raining and I lazily had moved the van to the bottom. Not only did I find my van but bonus I got exercise.

I was speaking to someone earlier that had lost ten years. Now how do you go about finding that? And how do you find the joy? Well in acknowledging the years are lost, letting them go and moving on. Bonus would be moving into the arms of Christ, but one step at a time.

I felt lost briefly this week, the nice firm ground I had been walking on for the last few years disappeared and I was struggling, but I was not struggling in my faith or my need to cling tightly to the Lord. I was just struggling in the life I have. The Spirit of the Living God was with me throughout. The fruit of the Spirit have been clearly seen, the gifts of the Spirit have also been present with images of an untold future giving hope and peace.

I have lost something this week, a naivety perhaps, one more parcel of innocence, but wisdom, profound wisdom from eons ago sits by my side and loves me, guides me and gets me through this stage of grief and sadness.