Recently I had the experience of acting out that adage about things happening in three’s. In each case it had to do with finding something that was lost.
The first instance happened one morning a few weeks ago when Evelyn looked at her finger to discover that her wedding ring wasn’t there. It sent her into a serious funk. We looked around the bedroom, the bed itself, other places in the house that she had been (her recliner, the bathroom, etc.), but nothing. Not knowing exactly when the ring came off, I thought to call the Applebee’s in Pennsville, NJ, where we had had lunch a few days before, just to let them know who lost it should a patron find it and turn it in to them.
When our cleaning lady came I alerted her to the fact that we were keeping an eye out for Evelyn’s ring. Perhaps she might hear it clattering in her vacuum or she might see it when she was dusting. After letting a few days pass, I decided it was time to let the lost stay lost and, with Karlyn’s help, ordered a replacement from JCPenney where Karlyn works. It wouldn’t be a surprise, as we had to measure Ev’s finger to know what size to order, but I followed thru with that plan.
As so often happens, once you make a definite decision to move on, you find what you were looking for. It happened on a Wednesday, as I was taking care of the laundry. I had carried the bed linens from the dryer to our bedroom and set them on the cedar chest at the foot of our bed so I could make the bed. As I picked up one of the sheets, I looked on the cedar chest and couldn’t believe my eyes: there on the chest was a ring! I tried to convince myself that it was something else, because it made no sense for Evelyn’s ring to be sitting there, but, when I checked the inside, there it was: the inscription, “K. R. K. to E. L. S., 6/8/69.” I know – it’s inexplicable. But who cares about explanations when something so valuable has been returned to you? I chalk this one up to “miracle” (i.e., “that which produces awe and wonder in the observer”).
Then, recently, after Evelyn entered the rehab center here in Dover, the staff asked me if I knew where her hearing aid was. I had no idea, but I rooted thru the stuff she had with her in the room: her purse, some bags with clothes and other items in them, etc. Nothing.
I mentioned the missing hearing aid in a text to my kids. Karlyn replied that she remembered a nurse saying she was putting the aid in the front pocket of Evelyn’s purse. I said that I had already checked there, but would look again on my next visit. Sure enough, when I checked a second time, there it was, tucked way down in a corner of the pocket, not visible unless you really looked for it. So, that was two.
Then, just the other day, I noticed that a tumbler I had used to take some iced tea to Evelyn was missing (this is the most unbelievable of all). I checked around the house, thinking that I might have forgotten that I brought it home (a real possibility, given my mental state lately), but, again, nothing. It was a tumbler that I had bought when I was in the Beachbody program that daughter ’Chelley promotes. I had wrapped it in paper towels secured with a rubber band to keep the condensation from getting other things in the carry-bag wet. I figured that it must have accidentally been picked up with Ev’s meal tray, and so, accepted the fact that it would be lost forever.
As Kianna (Ev’s service dog) and I were leaving from a visit, she had to take a walk, so we walked over to the grassy area across the driveway from the rehab building. I looked on the ground and couldn’t believe my eyes (again!) – there, on the ground, next to a lamp post, was my tumbler, complete with rubber band still around it! Now, how it ever got there is known only to God. And, what’s more amazing is the fact that, had Kianna not had to take her walk, I would never have seen it there.
Do I need any more proof of God’s consistent watchfulness over us? I think not. I share these stories as testimony to God’s presence in our lives, even down to guiding us to find things like plastic tumblers on the lawn.