Lost.
Three different parables in this week’s lesson teach of finding things that are lost.
A lost
coin
sheep
son
One is an inanimate object, the coin.
Another is an animal, the sheep.
And finally, a human life, the son.
Some might argue the value of each lost item varied. And the circumstances of how they were lost varied as well. The coin was dropped, the sheep wandered, and the son was lost to blatant rebellion.
An accident,
carelessness,
conscious choice.
Different values and circumstances contributed to each loss, but one thing, despite those differences was the same— the joy in finding them!
We all can understand the joy. That little box in the corner of every public space, the one filled with one mitten, a notebook, a ring, a single ear bud, a water-bottle, keys— is called the “lost AND found.” What a hopeful assumption in the name of that box. We anticipate the joy when those items are gathered by their owners.
There can be no question that each one of us, regardless of how we might see ourselves, our different circumstances, and our choices is a “beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny.” (The Family: A Proclamation to the World)
“We should make merry, and be glad: for … [what] was lost, and is found.” (Luke 15:32)
Oh, the hope in being gathered, in being found!