Lost and Found
There is a show on television that I sometimes watch called Pickers. These guys go around to old buildings and barns all over the country and "pick" things from the buildings and barns that the owners are willing to sell. Most of us see the price that what seems to be pure junk brings and we wish we had taken better care of the toy music box grandma gave us for Christmas in 1963 or that jelly jar we used to collect insects when we were twelve.
I often see things that were similar to things I once had and think, "Wish I still had that." The other night I saw something that was exactly like something I once had and lost. There was a serving tray my father bought for my sisters when they were teenagers. The reason he bought teenage girls a serving tray was this...BEATLES! The metal tray had each of the Fab Four's pictures with an "authentic" autograph from Paul, George, John, and Ringo.
The tray owned jointly by my sister's remained in my mother's closet for years. Mother moved and we specifically remember the tray going to the new house. Several years ago the tray came to mind and we found it was lost forever. Hmmm, maybe not... perhaps that was it on Pickers.
There have been so many things I lost through the years that I often think of and wonder what happened to them. I got a beautiful pink tea set for Christmas when I was five. I played with it until I was ten or so and then stored it away to keep for my little girl. Well, the little girl thing... I had two boys and the tea set...lost long ago.
Maybe whoever got the Beatles serving tray used it to serve tea from my pink tea set.
In a lifetime we lose an abundance of stuff. We spend a lot of time searching and finally realize whatever it is, is not simply misplaced but lost forever. We go and buy something to replace it - if it is something we have to have. If not we simply forget about it for the most part - unless something triggers a memory of that which was lost.
The Beatles tray on television triggered a memory, actually a lot of memories. I thought of all the things I had lost through the years that I could remember losing. I then thought of all the things I have now that could be lost. What will happen to all my stuff when I am gone? Someone I guess will be picking through things I collected in this lifetime and find each item to be either trash or treasure. I think the trash pile will fill up first.
But at the end of this life, I will be in Heaven and I believe all the stuff I left behind will be far from my mind.
When I was thinking of lost and found, I did think what if there is a lost and found department in Heaven?
What if when we get there for just a moment are shown all the things we lost during our lifetime? We are shown exactly what happened to them. Just a thought that made me smile and birthed this poem.
Lost and Found
"I once was lost, but now I am found" took on a whole new meaning today.
As I walked through Heaven's gates and saw angels all along the way.
This place is more beautiful than your most beautiful dream.
New colors are here that I have never seen.
There really are streets of gold and mansions many.
Fears, tears, worries, there aren't any.
When I first arrived guess what I was shown?
Every single thing I lost that I once owned.
It was like the lost and found department from all I had lost on earth.
Things were there that belonged to me from birth.
An angel showed me in an instant things I treasured as a child.
I saw when I lost each one and I began to smile.
The verse of corruptible treasures came to mind,
All that truly matters is that while on earth Jesus we find.
Many wonderful things happened as I walked along,
Choruses of angels sang the most beautiful song.
I have always wondered just how it would be,
When the face of Jesus I finally would see.
Amazing - Awesome - Breathtaking let me say,
Don't adequately describe or portray,
The face of my Savior who brought me home today.
Yes, I once was lost and gone astray.
But Jesus my Savior found me and showed me the way
To Heaven where I can now forever run and play.
jbp
Matthew 6:19-20 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth
and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither
moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.