The Lost Child

The Lost Child

As I reflect on that day, I really don’t remember why I was there. I suppose I was in town and thought I would just stop in and pick something up that was on my mind that I needed. It was a typical visit as I had done hundreds of times before. I don’t remember noticing or feeling anything different or unusual as I entered the Wal-Mart store. I had no idea of the drama that was about to be played out before me.
For what ever reason, I found myself near the pharmacy where there are several short aisles with personal care products. As I browsed past this section, a small boy caught my attention at the opposite end of the aisle from me. I immediately recognized the expression on his face. The expression of fear was all too obvious as he looked down the aisle towards me. His eyes were frantically searching for the one person that gave him a sense of security and well being. I glanced around to see if I could see a mom that this child might belong to but there was no one around. As I turned around, I saw the boy rush to the next aisle to continue his search. I moved forward with him trying to figure out how to help him all the time thinking that we would see his mom on the next aisle. As he continued to move from one aisle to the next, I began to hear a small whimper from the boy as he began to let his fear overtake his emotions. At the same time, I realized that to him, I was a stranger, and my very presence as a stranger was frightening to him. However I continued to move forward with him while trying to figure out how I could help this child. As we began to reach the end of the row of shelves, his whimper could no longer be contained. He began to cry out though the tears with a quivering voice "Mama, Mama....." . By this time, I was fully focused on how I could help this lost boy. Just as I decided to try and approach him, I heard an answer to the boy's plea for his mother. It came from behind me near the toy department. The boy recognized the familiar voice and immediately ran past me toward his mother's voice. I turned just in time to see his mother rushing toward him. On her face, there was a sense of relief and thanksgiving as they ran into each others arms. The small boy’s full emotions were spilled on his mother's shoulder as he repeated "I was lost, I was lost". I stood there in awe as the mother comforted him through her tears and told him it was okay now, she was there. The emotions were so strong that I found myself having to fight back the tears. It was as if there was no one else in the store and this drama was played out just for me. All I could think about was getting out of the store to get my composure together and the thought kept racing across my mind, "why did I see that?". I left the store without even thinking or even remembering what I had came after, only with the question, "why did I see that?".
As the days and months past, the memory of the drama and the question began to move to the back of my mind behind all of the other things that seemed to take precedence over this "out of place" experience that I had witnessed. It was not until I was really struggling in preparing a Sunday School lesson and was needing a fresh breath of inspiration from God , that part two of this drama was complete. I longed for God to give my the insight I needed to effectively teach my class. It seemed as if I could not break the chains of stories read and stories heard to release them with true life experiences. As I prayed to God for help in my struggle to be able to be an effective Sunday School teacher, God shook my soul and my future as the sudden memory of the drama at Wal-Mart returned to the forefront of my mind. I immediately began to see through the Wal-Mart drama of the "lost child" what God wanted to show me.
I am sure that the small child never intended on becoming separated from his mother. But as they browsed the aisles, apparently something caught the attention of the boy. As his attention turned to the items of the store, he forgot all about keeping up with his mom. Without realizing it, he had wandered away from his mom. Maybe it was in one of those moments of wishing or wanting something that was out of his reach, that he turned to his mom for help, but when he did, no one was there. How many times have we been intrigued by things of this world? We don’t intend to lose sight of God, only just to look at the things that the world has to offer. Without ever realizing it, we walk away from God to pursue something that intrigues us. Then, one day we turn around to ask God for help, but we have drifted to a place where we can no longer see him. Was the mother mad at her son when she found him? Just as in the story of the prodigal son, the mother ran to meet him with her arms open wide. That is how God receives us. When we truly cry out to him, he is there with his arms open wide to surround us with his love.
This drama marked the day that I began to see life in a different light. It opened my eyes to the lessons that God teaches us through life. Stories of God’s love and forgiveness surround us every day even when shopping at Wal-Mart.