I have several socks on top of my dresser and one sock that “wandered” behind my dryer that I can see but can’t reach. These socks all entered the washer as pairs and emerged from the dryer as individuals. How is that possible? Does this happen to you? Please tell me I’m not the only one with laundry room gremlins!
This isn’t the first house I’ve lived in where this has happened. I’m convinced that somewhere in every laundry room lives a mystery: the vanishing sock. You put two in the washer, but only one comes out. Its twin vanishes into the abyss—maybe behind the dryer, maybe into another dimension. And then one day, perhaps a year later, when you’ve given up hope, there it is: the lost sock returns, tangled up in a bedsheet or stuck to a towel.
When that happens, you can’t help but either cry or smile. The pair is restored. Balance returns to the universe. Unless, of course, in the intervening time, you threw away the one. Then you still have a dilemma: is the one you found the match to the one you threw away?
Jesus once told a parable about something far more important than lost socks:
“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home.” (Luke 15:4–5)
In the final analysis, we can laugh and shake our heads over socks, because they don’t mean much and are easily replaced. But Jesus was serious about people. God’s heart is always searching, always calling out, always longing for the lost to be found. A 99% success rate doesn’t make God happy; the goal is 100%. God wants us – all of us – to know him and know his love for us. The joy we feel over the return of a sock is nothing compared to the joy in heaven when someone finds their way home … to God.
We all have days when we feel like a missing sock. Maybe you feel that way today: tangled up, hidden, overlooked, or forgotten. The good news is that God has not given up on you. God has not forgotten you. God is searching with love, ready to rejoice when you’re found, and longing to bring you home.
As for “The Parable of the Lost Sock?” We can think of the lost sock as a holy reminder. God never stops searching, and heaven throws a party every time the lost are restored.
Prayer: Lord, thank you that you never give up on me. Even when I feel lost, you are seeking me out with love. Help me to rejoice in your grace and to share in the joy of heaven when the lost are found. And thank you, too, for the small daily reminders that point me back to you. Amen.
