“Mama! Mama! Mama!”

My heart stopped as I turned toward the voice. I watched anxiously for a relieved mother to come around the end of the isle desperately looking for her child. My stomach turned at the thought of a stranger getting to her before her mother or I did.

“Mama! Mama! Mama!” With each repeated call, her voice became more and more anxious. I quickened my pace toward her and watched the shoppers around us. No one seemed concerned that a child, approximately 4 years of age, was wandering around alone crying out for her mother. “What’s wrong with these people?!” I thought, “That is NOT normal!” Unsure if she’d trust me but determined not to leave her alone, I walked toward the youngster with a friendly (I hoped) smile on my face. I motioned for her to come toward me which, thankfully, she did.

The look on her face was one I doubt I’ll forget. Fear and relief, anxiety and trust, she seemed to be a package of conflict as I leaned down to talk to her. “Are you looking for your mom?” I asked. Sliding her hand into mine and offering me a smile that could melt ice, she nodded and said yes. Together, hand in hand, we walked toward customer service looking for her mother on each isle. I say “we” – I actually had no clue what her mother looked like but I felt better just knowing she was safe and would be with her family again soon.

I thought about how our Father feels when we stray from Him. The gospels of Matthew and Luke both tell “The Parable of the Lost Sheep.” Although they differ some in the telling, the message in each is the same: If we wander, He will search for us and rejoice when He finds us. One would want to question if someone loves us that much, why would we stray at all?

But just as my new little friend wandered away from her mother, we do tend to wander from time to time. Sometimes it’s a conscious decision – we fall for the lie that somehow He won’t accept us anymore because we’ve done this or that. We get selfish and want what we want instead of giving up what the world has to offer for eternal peace and ultimate freedom. Sometimes, it’s subconscious. We trade our time with Him for something that seems important at the time. We didn’t intend to stray. It was, after all, a worthwhile cause we substituted – one very Christian-like and loving. And the next day, there was that thing we forgot about that took all our time. And the day after that we just couldn’t wake up on time. And the day after that… Before we know it, it’s been so long we can’t remember the last time we paused for a moment with our Savior.

How comforting for us that He won’t leave us lost, alone and wandering aimlessly.