Lost and Found

Over these few years, I have lost some particularly valuable items, including a geometric compass my dad had since he was in high school, a 1.0GB photo memory card with photos from my China trip still on it, and a pair of diamond earrings my best friends bought me for my 16th birthday. These are lost items that I do feel badly about, not to mention all the little things that I've misplaced here or there.

Sometimes I find them again, sometimes they're lost forever. But as I was thinking yesterday, I realized that the most important things in life can never be lost - things like family, best friends, love, respect, and hope. These have an infinite value. This thought soothed my troubled heart and I realized I really cannot hold too tightly to my material treasures as they can disappear at any chosen moment.

Yet the joy of finding something that was once lost is such an exciting moment. After a year of "searching" for my lost memory card, I stumbled upon it while packing for my 3rd year of school. And the diamond earrings, I reached into the pocket of my jacket yesterday and my fingers fumbled around some tiny, hard, foreign object. I pulled it out to study, and realized it was the diamond earrings that my best friends had given me 4 years ago! What a surprise for me, as I had lost them in 1st year, worn the same jacket everyday in the fall and spring in 2nd year, and finally came upon them the first day I wore the jacket in 3rd year.

Likewise, what is our faith to us? Do we go through periods of lost and found in our joy in God? And perhaps this immense joy of finding something valuable that was lost, is but a fraction of the joy God has when His lost child turns back to Him. What can I do to make God happy?

*dear best friends, i am sorry for not letting you know about the loss earlier. the guilt overwhelmed me.