Moms go to great lengths to soothe their littles. Today’s search was for a bracelet- a souvenir from a summer adventure. Value was added to this bracelet because it was from a Christian camp, that my older son attended, without a bestie. He had such a good time he can’t wait to go back. Greater value was added to this souvenir because the bracelet has a cross on it, and his daily wearing of it- a bold display of his faith in a public high school- made it worth hunting for.
He lost it while working on an outdoor service project with the soccer team, discovered it was gone after traipsing around for 3 hours at the event and practice. Despondent, he called home after hunting, retracing his steps, scouring his pockets, the truck, the soccer bag. A tough end to a tough week.
Hope springs eternal in a Mother’s desire to help her children, so while he showered away the grime and some of the sorrow, I went to the high school to search. Keep in mind that other than a general idea of where he parked, where they worked, and where soccer practice usually is, I had no specific area to search.
The parking lot alone is a few acres.
Twenty minutes into the search I realized how foolish I was to hope I could fix this. I turned back to my car and steps away from it, a crumpled bit of something caught my eye near my front tire. I half chuckled that a little wad of string could look so much like his bracelet, then realized in fact it WAS his bracelet. I had parked, in a giant empty lot, less than a foot from his bracelet.
I laughed and cried as I stared at it in disbelief.
So much of my day to day I fail to give to God, not because I doubt He can handle it (I absolutely know He can) but because I doubt its importance to Him. WHY would He bother with the minutiae in my life? How could it possibly be important to Him?
But finding that little bracelet proved to me beyond a shadow of a doubt that He absolutely cares because He loves me and consequently He cares about the things that are important to me.
Gabe doesn’t even know yet. I left to get sushi and told him I was running an errand when I was really hunting for his bracelet. I can’t wait to see the look on his face, and I’m so so so grateful for the love in God’s heart.
