The Lost Coin

In Chapter 15 of Luke, the Saviour intoduces three parables that deal with those who have become "lost". They are the parable of The Lost Sheep, The Lost Coin, and The Prodigal Son. Each story targets a distinct group of people that have "wandered" in one way or another. This post will express my thoughts on each of them.

The Story of the Lost Sheep tells of a shepherd that has 100 sheep. When he notices that one of the sheep has wandered off, he leaves the "ninety and nine" and goes off searching for the one. When he finds the one, he rejoices and carries the lost lamb back to the fold.

Author Larry Barkdull, in his book Rescuing Wayward Children tells the following: "President David O. McKay suggests that the lost sheep is like many who stray innocently with no rebellious intent. Rebelliousness is not always the issue, he said. In the parable, the sheep was seeking its livelyhood legitimately, albeit ignorant of the consequences, and wandered into unknown and dangerous territory seeking better grass. Suddenly, it is lost. The sheep is no different from some children in the Church who wander unwittingly; seeking success in education, career, or other pursuits, they one day look up and find themselves far from the Church and disconnected from gospel principles. Their wandering has misled them in defining truth and what constitutes true success, and they are now too lost to find their way back without a good shepherd to guide them."

It is easy for me to picture a sheep, with its head down, paying little attention what is going on around it, following clump of grass after clump of grass. Suddenly it puts its head up and realizes it does't recognize any of its surroundings. We are all guilty of this in our own lives at some level. I know that on occasion I look up and find myself off the path that I know is right. At times like these, when we are suddenly lost, if we listen carefully, we will hear the voice of the Shepherd calling out to us as He comes to our rescue.

In what is likely the most familiar of the three parables, that of the Prodigal Son, a young man becomes rebellious and leaves the way of his father and goes out into the world afer his own pursuits. After living a wild and riotous life, he finds himself broken and alone... and far from home. He realizes he has lost everything and offers to come back and be a servant in his fathers house. But his father rejoices at his return, kills the fatted calf, and celebrates the return of his lost son.

How true is this story in each of our lives as well? It is our nature to want to do things on our own. Even our small children say "I do it" when we try to help them do something. It is our pride that makes us think we can do it on our own. Even our first parents, Adam and Eve, fell into the trap of thinking they could do it on their own or some other way. It is by paying attention to the Spirit that we see the error of our ways and return to our Father in Heaven.

The story that seems to be the least familiar, at least with me, is that of the Lost Coin. This story also seems to have significant parallels in my own life. Particularly as it relates to watching over things we have charge of like children, siblings, parents, home teaching families, etc.

The woman in the parable loses a coin in her own home (how does this relate to our own children?). In order to find it she lights a candle (adds more light), and cleans her home (cleans the inner vessel.... repents). She seeks the coin diligently until she finds it.

We too are guilty of losing things of value in our lives simply by the clutter of our lives. This clutter comes in many shapes and sizes. For some it is sports, for others it is simply making a living. Much of it comes from the never ending barage of "electronic noise" in out lives. This includes television, computers, ipods, cell phones, facebook, email, and the list goes on and on. If we are constantly stimulated by these distractions, when will we ever have time to hear the still small voice?

In Alma we are taught "God has said that the inward vessel shall be cleansed first, then shall the outer vessel be cleansed also." This is a little hard to hear. We typically want the problems in our lives to be "someone elses" fault. It can't possibly be me! How many times have we heard ourselves say, after listening to a talk or sermon that talks about one problem or another, my wife/husband/sister/etc. really needs to hear this?

The Lord has taught us this principle in many ways in the scriptures. In Matthew 5 we read "Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the alter, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the alter, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift". And, "First cast out the beam out of thy own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye". Again I quote form Larry Barkdull "To successfully seek out that which we have neglected and carelessly lost, we need to shine an honest light on our own house and begin sweeping."