Finding the Lost

I know I had left my car key in some pocket...but which pocket, and which jacket? I looked all day, and couldn't find it. I went to bed, praying and wondering. What had I done with the key? This was very unlike me. I am very organized. I always put things back where they belong. In the morning, I looked for the key, and almost forgot to prepare for my volunteer work teaching art at a nursing home. I decided (of necessity) to walk to the nursing home - only two miles away. Part way there, I realized I was not going to make it on time. (That is not like me either. I am always early.) So I was glad that I had worn jogging shoes and warm up pants. I began running, and ran all the way to class, arriving just in time. A little sweaty...but on time.

I walked into an empty classroom. Now my art class is very popular. Normally, I have 10-15 senior citizens, eager to learn how to draw. Not a soul was in the room. And I had just run 2 miles to get there on time....

A sweet, somewhat confused lady with a walker came down the hall. She peered in.
"Is this where I am supposed to be? I think I'm lost."
"This is the art class," I said.
"Oh, I can't draw."
"That's what they all say. I promise you, I can teach anyone to draw."
"Well....ok."
She slowly pushed her walker ahead of her and made her way to the table. I helped her sit down and learned that she was new to the home, and was very concerned that she couldn't draw, and shouldn't be there. She didn't really know where she was supposed to be.
"Well, it looks like you are the only one coming to my class. If you leave, I will have no one. Can I teach you to draw a Christmas tree?"
"Well, ok, you can try."
Another lady who is one of my regulars came in.
"Lorraine!" I said, "Are you here to join us?"
"Just to watch," she said.
"But Lorraine, we are drawing Christmas trees and you like to give your drawings to your grandkids!"
"Well, ok..."

I had brought pastels, which we have just begun working with in the past two classes. The first lady, Muriel, told me her "hands are slippery" and she struggled to even grip the pastel. I put my hand over hers, and together we drew the lines. Then I helped her draw the pastel strokes, but she was able to blend with her finger all by herself. Both ladies worked diligently. Slowly our Christmas trees developed, first the trunk, then the branches, then ornaments, then garland, then a shimmering star atop it all.

As Muriel gazed at her finished drawing, she said, "I'd like to keep this to show my daughter." She sounded very proud.
"Of course!" I said, "It's yours."
"It's beautiful!" said the activity director rushing in, "Did you do that, Muriel?"
Muriel smiled and nodded.
The activity director had been pulled out for an emergency and hadn't gathered the residents to my class as she usually did. That was why no one had shown up. She apologized profusely.

"It's ok," I assured her after Muriel and Lorraine left, "If there had been more than just those two, I wouldn't have been able to help Muriel, and I don't think she would have been able to do it."
"She did a beautiful picture."
"Yes," I agreed, "God had it all planned. I recently was told if only one person shows up for my book signing, make it the best book signing ever for that one person."
I was so happy that I had spent all that time with that dear, sweet woman, new to the home and confused, and wondering where she was. I thought how sometimes we all feel lost, all our efforts for naught. Maybe it is just that we don't know exactly where to look, and that our blessing, our victory, has been there all along, waiting to be uncovered.

I walked home in the lovely sunshine and had an epiphany. I entered my house, went to my bathroom where my running jacket was hung, and reached into the pocket. There was the lost car key! It had never been lost!  All along, it had been there. I just hadn't known where to look.
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Luke 15:4 

“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?

Acts 20:24
However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.