Parable of the Lost Spoon

I'd like to read you all a story. It's a tiny parable Jesus told in Luke 15. He said, "suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.' In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

Why do I tell you this story? Because my friends, I have lost my spoons. At the beginning of the year, my parents bought me a little box of silverware. It contained four table knives, four forks, and four spoons (ingenious, right?). So imagine my dismay when, preparing a bowl of cereal, I reached into my box of silverware to find only forks and knives! Two of my spoons were sitting in the sink, waiting to be washed, but the other two were nowhere to be found! Gone!

I searched. I pondered. I puzzled. What had happened to my spoons? They were not in my room. They were not in the kitchen. They had vanished. I pondered some more. My spoons were gone. I mourned. My silverware set would be incomplete, possibly forever. I could only offer two people cereal at once when I have three bowls. What if I lost the other spoons? Quite relevant to the parable, I did happen to tell a few of my neighbors. They were confused and saddened with me. Poor spoons, gone forever.

Coming across this parable again, I am struck by the significance of people. I care about a silly little piece of silverware, taking time to puzzle over it and search for it. How much more important are we as people? Certainly we are more significant than spoons. How exciting to know that God is concerned over us, searching us out when we stray from Him. I want to give Him cause to rejoice. Let's be Found.