Monday 8 January 2018

Searching


Searching 




Someone a couple of houses away is calling my name, but I'm not lost - I am hanging out the washing, appreciating the blue sky and birdsong after days of rain and wind.

The calling continues for my namesake - a missing puppy - her owner's increasingly anxious voice gradually receding  as her family spreads out and moves down to the stream and into the bush to search for their little brown bundle. I make  a quick prayer for her safe return and find my thoughts moving to the wider world where so many people are 'missing' - wrested from their loved ones and homes through no fault of their own ...  soon my prayers for help are added to those already being offered by countless others - little bursts of love-energy sent across the miles at the speed of light, to make a difference, however small.

I continue to hang out the washing.

Within the hour there is another search : our neighbour's young labrador has gone 'walkabout'  and isn't responding to his impressive,urgent whistle - and so I join in the search and we cover the likely places before the lanky pup is finally found with some new 'friends' a few houses away. We smile with relief!

We all know this lost/search/hopefully find scenario well.
We see it played out on our screens in countless dramas and even programmes searching for lost family members through DNA detective work!
We too have stories to tell of losing someone or something precious  -
We too have stories to tell of searching and hopefully finding.
But for some there is no resolution, only ongoing unknowing and the frustration of living with a question that may never be answered.

What loss or search or finding is part of your life at this present moment?
Are you calling out to someone you love, hoping against hope they will respond and come home?

Having two instances of losing and searching this morning made me think about God's continuous call to us through the natural world, through circumstances, through music and scripture and art and books and people and in structured and unstructured gatherings of faith communities.

God who is Love is committed to reclaiming our attention from the contemporary world's distractions of screens and stress and struggles.
Those arms into which the prodigal son [or daughter] runs in Luke 15 remain wide open to you and to me and a homecoming banquet is guaranteed!

Happy New Year

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