I Didn't Even Know I Had Lost Them

 This manuscript was written in 2012 just a few months after Dad's first stroke. The similarity to the life of Samson reminded me of the attentiveness needed in our lives. Perhaps I need to post a disclaimer. My rings are  fashion jewelry - nothing of great  worth, other than sentimental  value.

The Lost Rings

                On a Sunday I was selecting a ring to wear that morning.  After searching in several places for my unique, pink iridescent ring, I abandoned the search. Upon arriving home following the morning worship time at our church, I located the tapestry overnight bag on the top shelf of the bedroom close. I used the bag earlier this year during the month of March. 

Pink iridescent ring

               In March, my family’s world had completely changed as my 92-year-old father had a stroke that rendered him much more dependent on my mother, my sister, and me. I had used the tapestry bag during the time I had stayed with my father while he was hospitalized. With my mind so preoccupied with my father’s stroke recovery, along with concern about teaching third graders, I had left the ring in that tapestry overnight bag. How excited I was to glimpse the ring box at the bottom of the overnight bag! To my disappointment, I opened the ring box to find it empty. There beside that empty box was another empty box. That second empty box was supposed to hold a special sterling silver ring that commemorated the second millennium in the year 2000. I was astonished to find this ring was missing, too. I didn’t even realize it was gone until I found the missing ring’s box.
              After looking in several places for many minutes, I located both rings. With a heart of gratitude, I began reflecting on what had happened with the lost being found.
             My father’s recovery had so preoccupied my thoughts that I paid no attention to where I was storing the rings that were valuable to me. How many times do we allow our job, our responsibilities, a hobby, leisure activity, or just our self-centered desires to crowd out the vital daily relationship with the Lord? We do not realize that we have lost and weakened the influence and nurturing interaction with our precious family members while at the same time neglecting our time with the Lord. Sadly, we lose treasured relationships without recognizing and grasping their absences until our hearts ache for what is missing. In the same way, I had lost the irreplaceable millennium commemorative ring but wasn’t even aware of it until I stumbled onto its empty ring box.

Millennium Commemorative Ring

                Afterthought - As I revisited this piece I had written six years ago, the imposing Biblical figure, Samson, came to mind. In Judges, in the Old Testament, Samson was chosen by God before his birth and raised up as a deliverer of the Israelite people from their oppressors, the Philistines. Samson’s parents were given clear parameters for rearing their specially gifted son. Yet at each turn of his life, Samson defied God’s commands and boundaries for his life. Since his strength remained greater than any other Israelite or Philistine, Samson continued glibly resisting his parents’ directives, as well as God’s. How sad when the account of his deception by the Philistine temptress, Delilah, in Judges 16:20 states,

And she (Delilah) said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” So he awoke from his sleep, and said, “I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!” But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.

Lord, I commit to spend time with You each morning. Then throughout the rest of my day, keep me mindful of Your presence as I seek to obey Your commands from Your Word in my daily actions. May Your godly influence burn brightly in me among my family and my friends.