This month I’ve been invited to 5 happy weddings, but my deficient left-brain has had trouble keeping track. Which wedding is when? And where? Did I RSVP? Did I do it in time? Which stores hold the gift registries? Did I get a gift? And if so, where is it?

Because I don’t know how to make a wedding grid on Microsoft Word, I’ve created my own system.

As the invitations come in, I put them on my dresser where I see them daily. (Never mind their use as coffee coasters or ballpoint-starters. They’re in front of me, and that’s what counts.)

After RSVP-ing, I jot that down on the invitation, making sure to mark whether I said “yes” or “no”. As I learn of the gift registries, I write store names at the bottom. When the gift gets purchased, I describe it along with its store and whether or not it was purchased on-line. These primitive scribbles are my meager effort to keep track, despite turning those elegant invitations into doodling papers. (My apologies to the brides and grooms.)

Even with my new system, however, something just slipped through the cracks. Trying to be efficient, I ordered two gifts simultaneously from Crate and Barrel for two separate couples, both to be mailed to me. They arrived in the same big box, an immediate challenge, but my invitation-note-taking helped me label them. I went to the first occasion toting the right gift, but now it’s time for the second, and I can’t find it.

I did find the sparkly gift bag I’d bought for it, along with its matching tissue paper but can’t locate what should be wrapped inside. Remembering I’d tucked it safely away before the floor-sanding, I searched in every probable spot without success. It’s difficult to try to think like a scatterbrain when you’re the scatterbrain.

And so I ended up where I always end up: in front of the Lord. “You can see that gift, Father. Won’t you please show me? It’s not like I’m asking for myself. It’s for the bride and groom. Surely you want me to find it.”

And usually in these losses, he doesn’t help me. Why is that?

I’ve figured out one possible reason: each episode is a fresh chance to appreciate anew that he never loses track of anything, not the wedding gift….  and not me.

And the other side of that coin is this: although lots of things get hidden from my sight, the one thing most precious to me will never hide…

…and that’s him!

“He has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.” (Psalm 22:24)