Lessons from the lost package

Summer 2022 was definitely one for the books for me. it was the summer that I turned 35, and my mom's illness turned my world upside down. While there were definitely some highs, and many lows, one of the biggest lessons from the summer came from a lost package. Let me start from the beginning.

As I usually do when I fly east for the summer, I overpack. But this summer was different, i wayyy overpacked, and then went on to buy new things, none of which could fit into my large-size suitcase and carry-on. As a seasoned bi-coastal resident I did what I would usually do, ship the extra belongings to myself. So that's what i did, I got a small blue bin from Target, packed my stuff, created a shipping label, and then off it was from New York City to California. Simple, or so i thought.

As the bin was the least of my worries, I sent it off without a care and continued my time in New York before heading back to California. Checking my tracker i was pleased to know that my little blue bin would arrive a few days after I landed and I would once again be reunited with my belongings. The only problem was my shipping updates stopped updating after its arrival in New Jersey, and my determined delivery date came and went. Every day that passed by I would remember what I packed and realized that I needed that one thing at the moment. Eventually, my tracker page stopped tracking past New Jersey and two weeks from the original delivery date came and went.

I want to preface this by saying that patience, something the good lord is currently prunning me with is not one of my well-ripened fruits of the spirit. And at the moment this happened i was already exercising patience for a number of what i consider "high priority" things. Losing my stuff though trivial was the cherry on top of a taxing summer. And hearing the shipping agent tell me that the package was lost was unusually devastating, after all it was just stuff.

I mourned my little blue box as ridiculous as that sounds and filled out the claims reimbursement form a full 5 weeks after shipping it off. As I searched through to find receipts I prayed for a miracle, I begged God to find my little blue bin. After all God can do the big things and also the little things. This was a little thing, but deep down inside i knew that God was using this to scrape away more dead branches from my spirit. Pride, selfishness, and impatience, were all at the root of my frustration for something so trivial. That's the thing about God he can use anything to get your attention because it's never really about the thing, but rather, a true reflection of who we really are, and the qualities within us that need to change.

The funny part of the story was that not only did i have to sit with the fact that my package was lost, but every other day my deliveries were from the same company that lost my package. Everywhere i turned i would see their brown truck and logo on the side. Like a playground taunt it made is very difficult to not feel slighted. Then one Friday evening, all that changed. Checking my tracker as i was in the habit of doing, with a glimmer of hope, i got an update that read, "Found and being delivered the following Monday". To my delight, all manner of fret, worry, and anger dissipated when I received the assurance that my package would be delivered. I trusted the tracking, not knowing if it was correct, and with no real assurance, i trusted.

The ease at which i trusted the word of a computerized system startled me, when the God of the universe who minute by minute covers me, i often doubt. My daily prayers are often filled with, "Lord when?", my tone at times full of anger and frustration. All because he beckons me to trust and not rely on what i can see (2 Corinthians 5:7). My little blue bin did arrive on that Monday, and i was joyfully reunited with all my things, but to be honest all i could think about is how much i wish i trusted God to deliver on the things i am still waiting for, those things that seem seemingly lost.

For me it was a lost package, but for you, it may be something else entirely. There are lessons everywhere, often happening right in front of us. We miss them because he lose hope, we miss them because we become desensitized to God's moving in our life. My hope is that this lesson in my life reminds you to trust the process in which God is meticulously guiding you through, trust that he will come through even when all signs point to your request being lost or hopeless. Because God is the God of suddenly (Isaiah 48:3), and he desires to give you so much more than you can think to ask for (Ephesians 3:20).