When was the last time you looked through a ‘lost and found?’ Interesting things there, aren’t there? We have a lost and found closet at our church. My friend Sheila, who is the staff person in charge of that area, tells me that we have had some really strange things accumulate over the years .…a guest speaker’s expensive suit was in that closet and somehow inadvertently got sent to the Denver Rescue Mission men’s suit closet, also to be found were - a cowboy hat, boy’s underwear, women’s underwear, garden tools, to name a few. If the owner could spot their item, and retrieve it, then it would be ‘found’ – right?
Wouldn’t it be great in everyday life if the solution for all of our losses was that easy?
What do you do to deal with your loss? I’m not talking about death - but all the other ‘life losses’ that happen on a daily or weekly basis. What I’m getting at looks something like this for me – Sometimes I experience such a sense of loss, and I wonder why. I’ve not just experienced a death; I didn’t recently lose my job; I haven’t been mugged or robbed; I’ve not lost my best friend – but I feel loss nonetheless. And….experiencing that loss, I find myself dealing with many of the same grief expressions as though I had gone through one of the major losses listed above – death, job loss, break up of a marriage or relationship, etc. Those feelings can take on the look of depression, anger, betrayal, loneliness, panic, emptiness, despair, hopelessness. To be able to identify that you are going through grief and loss is in itself helpful. Then, to be able to name the loss is the second step (did someone trounce on your feelings; were you embarrassed in front of friends or family; did you say something stupid in a phone conversation; did you give your opinion when you wish you would have remained silent; were you ‘passed over’ for a promotion; are you dealing with your own mortality and aging process; are you going down the ‘what if’ road a bit too far – what will happen if…).
We see in Romans 8:28 “God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose.” Even in this loss God will work – He will take it and retrieve it or redeem it and help us walk through it. In Proverbs 3 we are told, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”
Though it may not be as easy to work our way through such loss as it is to paw through a ‘lost and found’ closet, God is the ‘retriever/redeemer’ of all of our losses.
So – next time you find that you are just generally ‘ticked’ and not sure why, ask yourself – “what loss might I be going through?” And – go to the One who understands, identifies and walks us through all of our grief and loss.