The Lost Earrings

By Mary Margaret Byrd 

When I graduated from high school, my parents gave me a pair of diamond earrings that I have worn everyday. Since I graduated in 2006, they’ve been with me a while. Never once have I lost them, which is truly a miracle, considering I leave all other pertinent belongings (wallet, keys, phone, sunglasses) all over the city of Birmingham regularly. 

But that Saturday, I lost them. 

I traced my steps and I was sure they were in the house. I’ve never misplaced them, so at first I just thought my drawer is messy and they didn’t get into the holder. But I quickly realized they were gone. I don’t know how to describe it, but I immediately had this peace—a quiet confidence really—from the Holy Spirit that I would find them. 

It was a long and exhausting three days of every single thought being some form of “where could they be?” and every spot I checked did not have what I was looking for. The night of that third day I was reading books to my one-year-old son before bed and I realized that I hadn’t seen one of his favorite books in forever. I had no idea where it could be. I got upset thinking how in the world was I supposed to find two diamonds studs in my house when I can’t even locate a twelve-inch board book? That lost board book sent me spiraling, but once again, I felt this peace that I would wear my earrings again. 

The next morning, I popped out of bed and just knew I needed to check under the coffee table. My husband moved the big heavy thing, and while the earrings weren’t there, the board book was! I blurted out, “evidence!” I took it as a tangible sign from God that He was listening. He cared. And I just knew that I was finding my earrings that day. So everywhere I looked, I just thanked God in advance for finding my earrings. 

The whole day passed and nothing. No earrings. I got ready for bed, and as I was on my way to get in bed, I thought I would check under our mattress. Instead of finding the earrings, I hit my eye on the corner of the bedside table. Then I just started to cry. I told my husband he can stop looking and let me just be alone so I could cry. I felt so defeated. 

Then I got in bed—lights off, covers on—and I started to tell God how sorry I am that I’m so upset about two lost earrings. They’re just things that can be replaced. I had recently had a miscarriage and felt like things I’d cared so much about were just gone and there was nothing I could do to bring them back. I remember even asking God to forgive me for caring more about my lost earrings than His lost sheep. If it made me so sad that these little studs were missing, how much more does lost souls grieve the heart of our Father? 

As I’m having all these thoughts I have this strong feeling to go check the garbage. The trash was already on the street, ready for the garbage truck the next morning. So I ask my husband, Kenny, bring me the top two bags from the last few days. 

I went through the first. Nothing. (Maybe by this time my husband thinks it’s time to have me committed.) And then I started on the second bag. At the very bottom of the second bag was one beautiful diamond stud covered in coffee grounds. I did not even take a second to clean it off and stuck in straight in my ear. I was so relieved and I just thanked God. At least I had one and could get another one made just like it. I would never know the difference. 

But then I felt the Holy Spirit say, “I’m not the God of just one earring, I don’t do half miracles.” 

So we knew our son had gotten a hold of the earrings because his favorite pastime was tossing things in the garbage can, a trait I’m so thankful he’s outgrown! We started to think like a toddler and thirty minutes later we found the second one under the stove! 

I could not sleep a wink that night. I just heard God saying over and over “I love you” and “I care about what you care about.” I heard Him say, “How much more important to me is a child over an earring? I can and will restore your family.”

Three months later, I got pregnant with a baby girl. She is now almost 1 and everything about her little life has been such a redemptive story for us. 

We have the greatest privilege to view everything in life as spiritual or nothing as spiritual. If we choose to view everything as spiritual, the Holy Spirit, our Comforter, does just that: He meets us in our mess and helps us make sense of it all. 

I learned so much about listening to the Lord, trusting while waiting, and how He never works how I think He should. 

I learned that God the Father cares so deeply for us, and He wants to be involved in all of our details, even our lost earrings. 78