It was a bright sunny morning late in August as I made my way to Aldi to do my weekly shop. I was counting my blessings as the sun warmed my shoulders and I looked forward to the long Bank Holiday weekend that stretched ahead of me.
Nothing could spoil my happiness, or so I thought. I paid for my purchases and crossed over to Morrisons to buy a newspaper. I picked the paper up and went to get my purse out to pay for it. But where was it? Thinking it may have sunk with gravity to the bottom of the bag, I emptied everything out – mini cucumbers broke out from their packaging, baby tomatoes rolled on the floor, strawberries lay squished and bruised. No – definitely no purse. And believe me, my purse is big enough to see.
That awful sinking feeling in the bottom of your stomach when you realise that you’ve lost something important set in. And panic! Mentally scanning what was in the purse that I couldn’t afford or couldn’t bear to lose. Any cash came last in the calculations of worth. Photos, telephone numbers, bank cards, loyalty cards…. Things that would be impossible, annoying or inconvenient to replace.
Backtrack to where I had it last – well, I definitely had it at Aldi. Then it dawned on me that it was in the trolley after I had paid and I had no recollection of taking it out. So, back to Aldi I went, hunted in the chained-up trolleys outside – no purse. Accosted a shop worker who pointed me in the direction of the manager. Yes, a purse had been handed in. He held it up and I recognised its familiar design, Phew! I had to answer questions about what was inside and quote the name on the bank cards just to prove my identity, but the relief on being reunited with it was overwhelming.
Losing something just for a few minutes, even something replaceable – is very stressful. When the shepherd in the parable loses one of his hundred sheep, he is distraught. But he still has ninety-nine! Would I have worried so much had I had ninety- nine other similar purses?
This shepherd acts in an outrageous and unreasonable way. He leaves the ninety-nine and goes after the lost one. This is a ridiculous way for a shepherd to behave – what would his employer have said? Why didn’t he just count his losses and concentrate on keeping the ones he had left safe? Because we’re not talking about reason here, we’re talking about love. And not just human love but God’s love. Immense and particular.
You mean that much to God; He loves You so much that He risks everything to bring You to Himself. Once He finds You, He’s not going to let You stray again.
Romans 8:39b “There is nothing in all creation that will ever be able to separate us from the love of God”