Lost and Found - GBE2 Week Three

Who isn’t familiar with the song Amazing Grace? “I once was lost but now am found; was blind but now I see.” It represents the ultimate in spiritual awakening, yet its message was so universal that it became a pop hit in the 70s. It’s easy for most of us to find something within its verses with which we can relate.

People can be lost spiritually, emotionally, geographically, financially, familial-ly, pretty much any way something or someone can be lost. You can get lost, lose ground, lose track, be at a loss, suffer a loss, lose weight, lose sight, lose touch, lose your mind or just lose yourself.

It’s easy to be lost. It’s much more difficult to be found. (Unless, of course, it’s that weight you managed to lose.) People say prayers to St. Anthony to find lost items. Some go bankrupt because of financial loss. Others go on sabbaticals to find themselves. (Or, back in the 60s, joined communes.)

Those of us who have lost track have often reconnected on Facebook, one of the best reorganizing mediums I’ve seen to date. You can find family, friends, former classmates, coworkers, ex-beaus, virtually anyone and everyone you’ve once had contact with provided they sign up (or have a family member who does). It allows for both public and private communications and long overdue updates on events past.

For those who are geographically-challenge, getting lost is just another day in the life. Even being given directions on how to get out of their predicament can be challenging because they will invariably get confused over the instructions (Did they say the blue house on the right or the house to the right of the blue one?)

Finding yourself, though, is probably the most difficult thing to do. It first requires a recognition that you are, in fact, lost. You may realize something’s wrong, but that’s about it. And, it’s not that you one day say, “You know, I think I’ve lost myself”. It’s more of a realization that you aren’t the person you could be (or should be). An awakening. An epiphany. Sometimes that realization comes during the actual process of the finding when you suddenly realize you’ve changed inside; that you’re no longer who or what you once were.

If only life were as simple as a lost and found box.