What do you do?
In the parable of the lost sheep, the shepherd knew where to begin looking. In the parable of the lost coin, the woman knew how to begin finding it. But what if there is no way of knowing where to look or how to begin? What do you do when that happens?
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Recently, I was expecting several Amazon packages, nothing critical, just things to make life a little easier. All day I kept checking my phone (“your package is out for delivery”), and the front door. And watched the delivery “window” get later and later. It’s okay, I thought. I can wait.
It was after 8 PM when my phone said, “Your package has been delivered! It was handed to a resident.” Except it hadn’t been and it wasn’t. Nothing on the steps, nothing near the mailboxes.
In the past stray packages have been hand-delivered by the neighbor who received it. I, too, have rehomed lost parcels. Things will surely show up in the morning. Right?
Only they didn’t. Online and on the phone, Amazon complaints go to a robot that insists I wait. The packages were bound to show up.
But what if they don’t? I had no idea how to go about finding those packages. They could literally be anywhere – except here. So how do you seek when you don’t know where to begin?
My initial response was frustration; but the situation was only annoying, not life-threating, and frustration doesn’t help.
My second thought was to pray for the person who found the packages. (Should have been my first thought.) As the second day wore on, I kept praying for this unknown.
Shortly before lunch, the doorbell rang. Our postman had found the packages — in the clubhouse of the apartment complex next door! He said he often finds misdelivered packages there and takes them where they are supposed to go.
Talk about above and beyond! A phoned-in commendation and a 5-star Yelp review let his coworkers, and the public, know what he did.
And, finally, I was able to speak to humans at Amazon. It was, after all, their problem.
Case closed.
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But … wait a minute! I prayed, remember? And God answered! Just as He said He would.
So, why should I be so surprised?
Life is a series of thousands of tiny miracles.
Notice them.
Appreciate them.
Be grateful.