When I came home from church, I noticed something colorful seemingly discarded in my front yard. Today is a gray, chilly and drizzly kind of a day. After letting my wife out of the car and parking in the garage, I went out to the yard to examine the item more closely. It could be a colorful piece of discarded cloth perhaps something meant for the trash can that had blown into our yard from down the street. When I picked it up, it was, in fact, a beautiful and colorful ladies scarf. I am not an expert on ladies scarves, but it seemed to be in good shape, and no doubt was a useful item. It was quite wet from the morning’s showers. When you find a lost thing what goes through your mind? To whom does this scarf belong? Do they know it is missing? Did it fall off while they were walking past my house? Did it blow out the window? Were they mad at the person who purchased it for them and discarded it out the window of their automobile? In other words, was it lost intentionally or is the owner frantically searching for the lost scarf?
The answer? I don’t know! Now Susanne and I are trying to discover who it belongs to and how do we go about locating the rightful owner? Some may say, ‘just wash it and put it in the closet and wear it and forget about finding the rightful owners.’ Too many years in Sunday School keep me from keeping the scarf and acting as though it fell from the heavens a gift from above. Besides the lessons learned in Sunday School, I know what it is like to lose things! When I go missing something, I pray that if someone finds it, that they will be honest and do the right thing. Many times the difficulty is figuring out the right thing to do in a given situation.

The lost scarf belongs or belonged to someone. Someone either made or bought it, that person thought it was beautiful as well as useful. At one time it resided in a coat closet and was ready to be used at a moment’s notice. When I found it, it was a clumped up ball collecting moisture while taking up a little space on my lawn. It was not in its right place nor was it serving the purpose for which it was made.

That is how the Bible describes my situation. I was made by a Loving and creating God who designed me for His purposes. He had plans for my life. One day I was lost. I never intended to be lost and alone, but there I was lost. Many folks walked by the lawn of life and noticed me lying there and kept walking. They were busy doing the things busy people do, and I was wet alone, cold and tired, but mostly lost.
God loved me so much that he took matters into His own Hands and He sent His Son to die for my sins so that I would no longer be lost. I will never forget the day He came by where I was, picked me up, cleaned me up and set me in the greatest forever family anywhere. He promised to “never leave me or forsake me.” He has been faithful to His Word.

So it is not just scarves that are lost…people are lost as well. We pass them by and hardly give any thought to their condition. Scarves are one thing, people are another. Tomorrow as you go to work, school or wherever you may be traveling be on the lookout for the lost, they are everywhere, and they matter to God. If they are important to God, they must matter to me as well.

Oh, I have enclosed a picture of the lost scarf just in case you may know the owner

2 Thoughts to “The Lost Scarf!”

  1. Bettina Bowman

    Ron, Thanks for sharing these thoughts, I love the story of the lost scarf, I hope to share it with some folks from our church. Thank you! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

    1. Have a very Happy Thanksgiving. God bless you

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