Lost...

So my number one pet peeve is losing things. I know normally you wouldn't call that a pet peeve but it really drives me nuts. In the last couple of months I have lost a Pampered Chef rubber scraper, Ethan's very first blanket from the NICU and my watch. I have already replaced the scraper, but the last two are nearly irreplaceable. The blanket was a "scent" blanket that Ethan got at the NICU and that I wore next to my body the first night we were separated. Then we kept it under him while he was in the NICU so that he could be close to my smell even when I wasn't there. I was using it as a softee for a couple of weeks and I may have even brought it to Louisiana with me this summer, but alas now it is lost. I've checked at all the Churches that Ethan regularly attends and searched the house. Still no blanket.

Here it is under Ethan on a trip to LA when he was a few months old.

Now my watch is an issue of monetary replacement more than emotional attachment. When I first bought it Philip thought I was spending too much money on just a watch, but I figured it would be the last watch I ever bought. It was an Eco-citizen and it was run with a solar panel face. Really cool! The problem is I usually take it off to type on the laptop or computer because it hits the desk as I type. Somewhere along the way I have misplaced it or Ethan has picked it up and hidden it somewhere. It is even a possibility that Ethan put it in the trash can and it got tossed out. I do have a picture of me wearing it early September but I do not know when it got lost between here and there.

I guess the real reason losing things bugs me is that I know the item is somewhere. Science teaches us two major laws that are at work in our everyday lives, the conservation of mass and the conservation of energy. In this case I have expended a lot of energy looking for things of relatively small mass!

On Thursday at MOPS I did get to put things into perspective a little bit. Our lesson was on contentment. Being discontent in life is a very dangerous place to be. It was discontentment that first drove Eve to pick and eat the forbidden fruit. In the lesson the speaker went over the following verse that has given me some peace:

“But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

1Timothy 6:6-10

We come into this world with nothing, and we can take nothing out of it. Even if I do find Ethan's first little blanket he will not be able to take it to eternity with him. He probably won't want to take it anywhere in a few years anyway! My watch can be replaced, and really the frustration of losing it does no one any good especially not me. I have food in my belly and clothes on my back so I do count myself blessed. I just need to remember to be content with what I have, not constantly frustrated about what I have lost!