The front door was open, our cab was waiting outside and the family was calling for me. I tucked my handbag under my arm and hurriedly leaned in toward the mirror to fasten the second of my earrings. Before I could say, “Oh no!” the platinum and diamond bobble slipped from my fingers, made one quick circle of the sink and was gone!
Flashlights, coat hangers and strings with magnets were employed but all to no avail. The gathering of family members waiting across town at a restaurant that did not accommodate tardy guests, forced us to temporarily abandon the rescue mission. A towel was placed over the sink, an alternative pair of earrings was selected from my daughter’s jewelry box and, with a heavy heart, I jumped into the waiting cab, took my seat and watched the lights of London stream past my window as we hurried on our way. Throughout dinner, the haunting vision of my earring, a gift from my husband for our 30th wedding anniversary, slipping from my fingers into the sink and down the yawning drain, kept me from enjoying the evening’s celebration.
In the morning a neighbor with known plumbing skills was recruited. Retrieval efforts resumed and, after what seemed an eternity, the duo reappeared in the kitchen with my husband holding a curved section of pipe. A glass bowl and tea strainer were quickly procured and, as a pitcher of water was poured through the pipe, we all held our breath in expectant hope. The pitcher emptied, with nothing but a small piece of green goop to show for our efforts and hope turned to sorrowful acceptance. Then, in an exercise of final frustration, my husband tilted the pipe upward and gave it a mighty shake.
For a fraction of a second we were silent with shock as, unceremoniously, the world’s most beautiful earring plopped, wet and dazzling, into the tea strainer. Cries of victory and whoops of delight filled the air and moist-eyed hugs of thankful joy were given all around.
Grinning with delight, I pressed the prize tight fisted to my chest and blurted out, “This is like the woman in the Bible with the lost the coin who, when she finally found it, called in her neighbors to celebrate!” (Luke 15:1-32). My daughter’s neighborhood plumber looked a bit confused. I went on to explain, “In the Bible, Jesus tells three parables about lost things; a sheep, a coin and a son and how the angels rejoice like we are doing right now when a lost soul is found and comes to Christ.” I could almost hear the clicking of search engines when, aided by the Holy Spirit, his eyes lit up with remembrance of the scriptures and he knowingly bobbed his head up and down.
As I returned the earring to its mate and safely tucked it away into my travel case, I marveled once again at the teaching methods of Jesus. As He had used the ancient parables of lost things, He also used a modern day parable of a lost diamond earring to demonstrate His deep longing for us and the joy all of heaven experiences when one who has been lost in sin willingly turns to Jesus and begins life anew as one who has been found!
Moral of the story: Beware the hungry sink!
