For our anniversary my husband gifted me a pair of stud earrings. They were lovely. I was so grateful that in addition to planning a wonderful anniversary date he took the time to get me a gift. I felt loved and appreciated.
I was grateful for his token of affection. In an effort to show my gratitude and also not wanting to accidentally lose them, I decided to wear them to bed. In the morning when I awoke, I noticed one earring had been missing. I was shocked and so disappointed. Here I thought I was being careful and still an earring had gone missing. Since he was still sleeping in our room, I couldn’t begin my search for it right away.
Once he and the kids were awake, I announced that my earring had been lost. I felt terrible, but also knew with my kids help it could be found.
Although I was sad to have lost the earrings I was more sad, about what the loss may have meant to him. I didn’t want him to think I didn’t appreciate the gift and had been careless with it.
My husband had to go to work, but my kids and I began our search. We checked under the covers of the bed. We moved the nightstand and still no earrings had been found.
As we were searching, I thought of Christ’s parable of the Lost Coin (Luke 15: 8-10). In the story a lady has 10 coins and loses one. She is devastated. She tells all her neighbors about the loss. She searches the the whole house, but cannot find the coin. Finally in the evening she finds the coin. She tells her neighbors and all are happy and rejoice in finding the lost coin.
The Savior tells this parable when He is describing God’s joy when even one lost soul is found. It is to teach the people that God will search everywhere for that lost soul to bring him back to safety, salvation, and into His presence. There is value even in the one coin.
Before I said, my prayer, I thought if I expect God to help me find what is valuable to me and lost, then I need to make a greater effort to help him find who is lost to Him. I decided that each time I prayed to find my earrings, I would also offer a heartfelt prayer for one of my friends. In my prayer, I would advocate for my friend. I would express my love for this individual (which now I see is only a small fraction of the love He feels for this person). I would pray for her specific concerns that I had noticed.
I did not pray for her to become baptized or join the Church. I simply prayed for her to feel supported and strengthened. I felt that if she felt that strengthening from something beyond herself that it would help her in finding God.
As the day went on, every time I went to pray for my earrings, I prayed for a friend. It was a great blessing to me to be reminded of my friends’ struggles and to remember how much I loved them. It was a great blessing to me to see how much God loved them and wanted them to be noticed.
Sure enough by 3 pm, I found the earrings. They had fallen out of some items I had moved from the night stand to the bed and back. Like the woman in the parable of the lost coin, I rejoiced in what was one lost and now had been found.
As for my friend and other friends, I need to continue to pray for them as earnestly as I prayed to find the earrings. I wonder what God feels about the loss of individuals who do not care to be in His presence. Does he see that I care about His work and those He loves?
