When You Can’t Find What is Lost

It was a simple plan.  My dad my was going to whisk the kids off to the grocery store in my car (because carseats, of course), faking some forgotten ingredient for a great party, and my husband and I would be free to arrange the final details of my son’s birthday present without little people wondering what mom and dad were up to.

Let’s not ignore that the fact that my dad is the kind of grandpa who does things like that – 4 smallish kids in a grocery store.  I’m their mom and the task still scares me a bit at times. So yes, my dad is amazing.

The birthday party went off with out a hitch.  The surprise gift was well played and the party was wrapped up in a few short hours, when we realized our keys had gone missing.  They were my husband’s keys actually.  The key ring with important work keys on it, half our house keys and car keys – keys that unlocked most of the doors of our shared lives.

And so we searched for the keys.

That night we searched until dark and then a little longer with flashlights.  We combed the yard and driveway.  We searched the house and the couches and every surface in between.  We theorized that our German Shepherd (who has never picked up keys in her life) might have buried them, because the keys were nowhere to be found.

The next morning we resumed our search in the daylight hoping the sun glinting on metal would lead us right to them.  We searched pockets and interrogated children.  All to no avail.  There were no keys.  Anywhere.  They were gone.

If you’ve ever been in that place you know just how frustrating it is, because they can’t be gone.  They have to be there.  They were there.  My dad used them to drive our car to the grocery store.  And back.  The keys had to be here.  

We re- traced, what seemed like a thousand times. We re-played events.  And nothing.

We hobbled through the next few days, divvying up my set of keys when I had to leave town for the weekend….You keep the house key, I’ll take the car key… still knowing, thinking, hoping that the missing keys would turn up.

But they didn’t.  We could search faithfully and earnestly, whole-heartedly and without ceasing, but guess what?  The keys simply weren’t there.

And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.  I will be found by you, says the Lord. Jeremiah, 29:13-14

Found is so beautiful at times.  When we’re lost and lonely, when we hungry and hurting, found.  I’m thankful my God is more responsive than a set of keys, because His grace, His strength is far more essential.

Sometimes in the craziness of life, when I’m overwhelmed and busy, weak and worn, I seek comfort.  I seek respite.  I seek distraction.  Yet all I ever really need to seek and find is Him.

His burden is light.  His grace is sufficient.  His love is unending.  And His promise is true.  When I search for Him, He will be found.

So those keys?  They showed up 5 days later.  Sitting on the bumper of my father-in-law’s truck.  Apparently they got set there in all the party excitement.  He drove home 15 miles from the birthday party that night.  He drove to a steakhouse for dinner the following weekend and after dinner, he walked around the rear of his truck and there they were – right where they were all along.

All of our searching never matters when we are searching in the wrong places, friends.  Seek Him, find Him.  With all your heart.  I’m seeking right along with you.