Whose Job Was It, Anyway?

Lost and found report, filed with Heaven

Abba, we need to talk about the things on the floor.

Elisha picked up Elijah’s cloak when it fell (2 Kings 2:13-14). He didn’t hold a meeting about whose cloak it was, and he didn’t form a committee. He bent down and picked it and parted the Jordan with it. Meanwhile, I have walked past more dropped things than I can count, saying “someone should really do something about that.” You have been so patient with me, and now I finally realize that “someone” was me, and I was only saying it in the third person.

Here is a partial inventory of what’s been left on the ground.

Item One: The Sign-Up Sheet

It has been on the church notice board since February. Three people have signed up to bring tea and none to bring chairs. Everyone agrees this is a shame. Everyone also agrees it is not their sheet.

Item Two: The Prayer Request Nobody Followed Up On

Someone said “I’ll pray for you” in the hallway. We all say it. Somewhere, a person is still waiting for those prayers to be said. I found the sentence lying on the ground, slightly trampled, and I felt it was mine to pick up. It was not comfortable. Nobody warned me that picking things up means you now own them, and that intercession would take up so much of your time.

Item Three: The Coffee Urn

I won’t say who left it on. It is still on. It has been on since the last millennium.

Item Four: The New Person Standing by the Wall

She has a Bible in her bag and her coat still on, and everyone is too polite to interrupt her loneliness. I told myself someone more outgoing would handle it. Then I noticed that the people I was waiting on were all waiting on me.

Item Five: The Mantle Nobody Wants

This is the big one. Somewhere in every church, family, and friendship group lies a mantle that fell when a faithful person got tired, moved away, or went home to You. It’s heavy and unglamorous, and it has no nameplate. We all know it’s there. We step around it like a wet floor sign.

Abba, I think I’ve been looking at this wrong. I kept waiting for You to hand me a shiny mantle with my name embroidered on it. But Elisha didn’t get a new cloak. He got the old one, off the ground, still smelling of somebody else’s journey.

The Official Note

So here’s my official note for the lost and found. I’ll take the chairs. I’ll follow up on the prayer. I’ll go and stand by the wall with the woman in the coat. I’ll even turn off the urn, if You will give me the courage to find out who’s been blamed for it all these years.