The Road Home

When churches have altars they usually have kneeling pads.  Kneeling down on a hard board surface might not be an encouraging thing for the kneeling sinner seeking forgiveness.  Most of the churches in my memory not only had kneeling pads around the outside edge of the altar, but they were often handmade and placed with pride by a women's group within the church.  Getting them dirty was not acceptable.  Spilling grape communion juice on one of them was one of the unforgiveable sins.

 

In more recent years I have discovered another kind of kneeling pad.  This kneeling pad is cheap and getting it dirty is a part of its purpose.  This time of the year most gardeners are doing a lot kneeling as plants are planted and weeds are pulled.  Having a kneeling pad under old knees is a wonderful thing.  It eases the pain of kneeling on small rocks or pieces of debris and alleviates some of the soreness at the end of the row.  The older the gardener the more the kneeling pad becomes a treasure

A day or so ago the kneeling pad went missing.  All morning finding it was something being done, or thought about.  Finally, finding it was designated a lost cause.  The kneeling work would have to be done without a kneeling pad.  As the day was winding down, it showed up laying on one of the side tables of the outdoor grill.  Some might say what was lost came to me.  When what was lost was found, the air was filled with a shout of joy.  There was even a wild moment of thinking that it was time for dancing!  As I hurried to the garden to announce the news of great joy, I thought about our Father in heaven shouting and dancing with joy in those moments when we lose our way and finally get ourselves back on the road home again.