I am convinced that there is a magical land full of all the things that I have lost over the years. It’s a beautiful place – the clouds are made of fluffy matchless socks, the ground is covered with colorful hairbands, pens grow from the ground like flowers, random buttons dot the bushes, the houses are built out of keys, and CDs and earrings dangle from the trees. This magical place is hard to find though. I think that if I climbed inside the drying machine I might tumble out the other side and into the land of Where the Lost Things Are.
I asked Ryan last night in bed what are the items that he most frequently loses and he calmly replied, “I don’t lose things.” And then he quickly followed up with, “Unless you lose them for me.”
It’s true. I am known to put things in very strange places. Clutter makes me feel stressed so I often shove clutter-y things into the nearest drawer or closet I can find. I know to wear protective head gear when I need to get something out of the front hall closet – it’s dangerous opening that thing up!
Noah has apparently taken after me in this area. He likes to put things in strange places around the house too. I decided the other day to call these hidden spots Noah’s Secret Treasure Stations. I’ll watch him play with a toy, get up, look around to see if anyone is watching, then head off to stow his toy in one of his Secret Treasure Stations.
Before I knew about these Secret Treasure Stations, though, I just thought we were losing toys left and right. Seriously, we’d be cleaning up before bedtime and I was constantly asking Noah, “Where is such-and-such-toy?” It was starting to bug me because it seemed that his beloved toys were just vanishing into thin air. Especially this one purple plastic ball that I knew was Noah’s favorite.
So I decided to pray about it.
“Lord!” I cried out, “Only YOU know where these toys are! I’ve searched EVERYWHERE I can think of! Please lead us to where the lost things are!!! In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
Noah and I faithfully prayed about that purple plastic ball every day. We’d be in the middle of playing and my thoughts would stray to that missing purple plastic ball and I’d look at Noah and say, “Noah! Let’s pray again! I just KNOW that God’s going to answer us! He WILL deliver that purple plastic ball!” Then we’d pray some more.
Three weeks later the Lord answered our prayers! I found the purple ball yesterday with Noah when we were playing in his room! It was hidden next to his toy bin – nestled back in a corner. I flapped my arms around in praise and thanksgiving to the Lord for leading us to find the missing toy! Noah and I had a celebration of God’s faithfulness.
Don’t you just love that God cares about where the lost things are? He heard my silly little prayer for a purple plastic ball and He helped me to find it. What was so great about this situation was that it modeled for Noah what I desire him to walk in one day – the knowledge that God wants us to seek Him – to make a business of prayer – about everything, even the lost things. I long for Noah to run to the Lord the second he realizes he’s lost something. Starting out with missing purple plastic balls might inspire Noah to one day seek the Lord over his missing joy or missing peace. Those are things I don’t want disappearing to that hidden land on the other side of the drying machine. Those are things that I pray Noah will ask the Lord to help him find so that they return to the Secret Treasure Station of his heart forever. 🙂
Now if I could only find that red plastic ball…
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7
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