irreplaceable

last sunday, mom and i were looking at some clothes at a shop in megamall. mom, wallet in hand, browsed through the different racks while i debated whether i should buy a blouse that caught my eye. next thing i knew, mom was coming over to me in a panic. her wallet was missing.

we were fussing over her missing purse at the store. mom was anxious to find it since, aside from the cash, it also contained her IDs, cards, prayers and some sentimental stuff. after several agonizing minutes, we still couldn’t find it anywhere in the store. we decided to just go home. mom felt really, really down.

then at around 8pm, someone called our house. the caller identified herself as an sm employee. she informed us that my mom’s wallet has been found - without the cash inside, but with all the IDs intact. we all breathed a sigh of relief and whispered a prayer of thanks.
so what did we learn from all this?

* money is, by far, not the most important thing in the world. the money we lose can always be replaced. but the good times, happy memories, and little tokens of love that we keep.. those are truly are more precious than money.

* sometimes, god allows us to go through some not-so-good experiences - whether to teach us a lesson or to manifest his glory. we all learned to be more careful with our things that sunday. and we also recognized his hand working to give back what we thought lost forever.

what would you consider irreplaceable in your life? what counts as your most treasured possession? is it wealth? health? career? reputation? a loved one, perhaps? what if, one day, you were to lose this “irreplaceable” thing? would you still be able to see god’s goodness?

may we always find it in our hearts to trust in the lord and to thank him - regardless of circumstances.