Two of my grandchildren, Katie Rose and Ian, have become very fond of an animated children’s program on TV. The episodes are available on demand so they can watch them any time, and they especially love the one where two little ponies get married.

The other day, Katie Rose came into the kitchen in her pink dress-up dress, wearing a headband with long pink hair we had found at a dollar store. She was crying because she wanted to pretend that she and Ian were getting married, but Ian refused to play because they didn’t have a wedding ring. I was fixing dinner at the time so I turned the heat down on the stove and we went to my room to look in my jewelry box. We did find a gold band that was small enough to fit on her thumb. I told her I was not giving it to her, but she could borrow it for their game and then return it to me.

About ten minutes later I heard her screaming out in the back yard. I turned down the heat again and rushed outside. I could see that she was standing in the far corner of the property in an area that was very overgrown. In our part of Texas, where we were living at the time, we had scorpions and fire ants so I immediately began to pray to know that God kept her safe and protected from harm. We had had some quick healings in the past concerning the bites of those insects, but when I got to her that was not the problem.

She was holding a handful of pink wildflowers. Between sobs she said that she was picking them for her bouquet, but the ground was so hard she had to really pull on them and the ring had flown off where she couldn’t find it. I made a mental note to talk to her again about picking wild flowers, but we would deal with that later. Right now she needed comforting, and as I held her, I reminded her about the things she had been learning in Sunday School about God. 

Her teacher had told the class a little poem that said that there is no spot where God is not for God is everywhere. She’d shared with them seven synonyms or names for God from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, a book written by Mary Baker Eddy, the woman who discovered Christian Science. The synonyms are part of the definition of God given on page 587. They are Principle, Mind, Soul, Spirit, Life, Truth, and Love. The definition also says that God is all-knowing. So we did not have to be afraid because God, Mind, always knows where everything is and Mind would help us find the ring.

We did look for a few minutes, but I had to go back and finish preparing dinner, so I promised I would look again later. That evening I did go back to see if I could find the ring, but although I searched carefully, the weeds were thick and I couldn’t locate it. I was getting frustrated and angry. So I knew it was time to step back and pray. There was more going on in my thought that needed prayer.

As I stood quietly, listening for direction, I realized that I was upset with myself for letting this child have the ring in the first place. Although that might not have been the best decision, I knew it was prompted by love, and I was sure I could not be punished for that. In fact, God never punishes us for any reason because He is all good. I was sure that even when we make mistakes, or seem to have made the wrong choice, divine Love is ready to gently lead us on the right track without condemnation or criticism. 

We can turn to God, the source of light and understanding, to help us in our search.

There was something else at the root of this. In two days we were going to be moving to another state, and there was so much that still needed to be done. I had been allowing myself to feel pressured and anxious. Just as I had held and comforted Katie Rose in her distress, I realized my Father-Mother God was holding and comforting me right at that moment. As I thought about God’s love for me, I felt a sense of peace and calm settle over me. It was like being wrapped in a warm blanket. There was nothing to fear for God, divine Love, was in control. It was not my responsibility to get it all done but an opportunity to see that Love in action was expressed in order and harmony.

I realized that I was humming something. It was a song from the Christian Science Hymnal. The first line goes, “I look to Thee in every need, / And never look in vain” (Samuel Longfellow, No. 134). What a beautiful assurance that I could confidently turn to God for all that needed to be done for our move. And I could look for that ring, and I would not look in vain.

I waded back into the weeds and knelt down, and when I parted one section, there was the ring nestled in the roots. I was very grateful to have found it. But I was even more grateful for those few moments alone with God that put my life back in His control, where it had always been. Part of the third verse of that hymn says, “Thy hand in all things I behold, / And all things in Thy hand.” 

As I thought about this incident later, I remembered a parable Jesus told, one of three parables about lost things. In Luke 15:8–10 a woman had ten pieces of silver, but she had lost one of them. Jesus describes how she lit a candle, swept the house, and searched diligently until she found it. I love that. If you think of that house as her thought or consciousness, you can see how to pray about finding something that has gone missing. First she lights a candle, brings light into all those dark corners. We can turn to God, the source of light and understanding, to help us in our search. In Genesis 1, the story of creation, the first thing God said was “Let there be light” (verse 3). 

But just adding light was not enough to find her lost coin. So she swept the house. Continuing to think of “house” as consciousness, this means sweeping out all those old cobwebs, thoughts allowed to accumulate that suggest the absence of good. Maybe we get a bit lazy mentally and do not deal with negative thinking right away. This woman did not sit in a chair and wait for that coin to appear, she was actively making the effort to find it. Still, she couldn’t find it.

Sometimes we pray and pray about something, but the answer doesn’t seem to come to light. There might be a temptation to just give up and accept the loss. That woman may have realized that she had not really lost the coin, she had just lost sight of it. It was in the house all the time. So she continued to search diligently until she found it. And she did find it.

I love how the parable ends. Once she had found the coin, she called her friends and neighbors together to rejoice with her. The answers we need are always within our consciousness and we can become aware of them and rejoice.  

The light enabled her to see her undisturbed relationship with God, just as I had been reminded of that in my search for the missing ring. The word of God came to me in the form of comfort, knowing I could trust God’s present care. I had to sweep out the thoughts of self-reproach, pressure, and anxiety. When the ring did not instantly appear, I had to be willing to search diligently until I found it, not just giving up but maintaining an expectancy of good.

Like the woman in the parable, I wanted to share this story with friends and neighbors. It’s always good to remember to say thank you to God when our prayers are answered. The ring had not been lost through negligence or carelessness. God had always known right where it was. And Katie Rose and I are so grateful to have seen the power of Love in action.