The missing pair

Rewinding back to my hostel days , I learnt a whole lot of things, like to spend money wisely, to value family , nurture friendship,to be non fussy about things , specially food and above all not to take anything for granted . 

As every Mallu girl [ girl from Kerala, India ] apart from the basic things, I had few gold ornaments with me in the hostel. One such jewel was a beautiful pair of dangling earrings from Duffai ( Dubai ), the land of gold, gifted to me by my dear cousin . 

It was a pretty piece and I kind of showed it off as I wore it couple of times.My friends in the hostel also loved it . Once when I was in a bit of a hurry I removed the earrings and left it in my handbag and totally forgot about it . When I did remember and to my great astonishment I found only one of it in my bag. I looked for it everywhere, told my roommates and my friends, but we could not find it .

In the hostel, we have had previous histories of girls breaking into cupboards of others by using a hairpin to take out food and goodies . My fear and concern was on those lines . So like Poirot the detective from Agatha Christie's novel , every person I knew had become a suspect . Even during conversations I would be speculating if one of them was the thief . Unfortunately the thief had left no clue or trace of the act , or would I say - was I judging unnecessarily? As why would some one take just one of it when both were available? 

However many many many months after I lost my earring, I took out my handbag and I realised that the lining of the inside of the bag had a small tear . Investigation into it , I found few small things inside and further going deep into the sides of the bag I found the lost pair of earring . I was so so happy and overwhelmed. Overwhelmed with joy and also upset with myself as I recalled the many people who I had judged in my heart who could have been a prospective thief .

How soon and how quick we judge others even if the problem lies within us . If there is anything that goes wrong in our lives we look at pointing fingers in every other direction not willing to acknowledge the problem which may be deep within us. If we go looking into the hidden pockets and areas of our hearts we may definitely find the answers to the many open questions that we are looking for . We sometimes become our own biggest enemy by not willing to accept our weakness, our shortcomings or shortfalls! 

I was quick to forgive myself and move on  ! However if some one else had taken the earring and returned it to me and asked for forgiveness sincerely, would I have forgiven them so quickly? I don’t think so.. That would have been a tough ask.

" My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires."James 1:19-20. In a similar way , we should be slow to hurt others by our words , slow to feel hurt and quick to forgive others,so that we receive all the goodness that our Lord has for us.