Monday, April 15, 2013

I Once Was Lost...

Running.  Faster and faster.  I keep stumbling over branches and roots.  I don’t know where I am.  Why can’t I find Him?  Where did He go?  
I’m exhausted, so I lay down on the damp grass.  Any glimpses of light have already faded from the sky.  Only a still, bleak darkness remains.  
I’m lost.  And I’m the only one.  Whimpering and weakly calling over and over to Him.  Will He come for me?  Will He come look for me?  I don’t know if He will.  It’s all my fault anyway, I ran away.  I didn’t mean to in the first place, I just meant to step away a bit.  The other side looked so much easier, I just wanted to go over for a minute.  But then it turned into a day, a week, and as everyone else kept moving on, I stayed farther and farther behind.  I thought I was together.  I thought I was fine - a pretty good thing.  But somehow, I strayed off.  And here I was, trying to find comfort in a dark, cold land.  
I knew I would never be able to find the way by myself.  But I just kept on trying to hope - He WOULD find me, wouldn’t He?  
I called out to Him, over and over.  Praying He would come pick me up and put me in His arms - the place that I would be safe forever.  "Please, please," I would cry, “find me please." 
With my last ounce of strength, I whispered, “Father, I am yours.  And nothing can ever take me away from You.  You will find me."  
And all was dark.  Silence. 
But then, I felt His arms.  He came and cradled me - wrapping me in His soft cloak.  
It is not the will of your Father that one of these little ones should parish.  You are mine, and I will not ever loose you.  I will protect you and keep you safe.  Even when you’re frightened, you will know that I am here because I will say so."
I was found. 
—-
What do you think?  If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying?  And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nince that did not go astray.  Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should parish." -Matthew 18: 12-14

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