Emry's Watch

For her 4^thbirthday, Emry received a watch from Aunt Katey and her cousins Jay and Curtis. It’s the perfect watch. A rainbow of colors, sparkly and the face is shaped like a butterfly. And while it is an analog watch, we won’t be learning to tell time by it. It has only lines – no numbers. However, Emry does happily look at it and declare. “Mama, it’s time for lunch!” or “Mama, it’s time to play!”

Oh, the simplicity of childhood time.

Almost from the moment she got it, the little metal stick that holds the band to the face has snapped out and left the watch lying on the ground, Emry tearfully declaring it broken. Thankfully, we have always managed to find the little metal piece and easily put it back together. However, a couple of weeks ago I realized I had not seen the watch in a couple of days. And since I knew I had not been the one to take it off (she can’t get it on and off herself yet), I was sure it must have snapped and gotten dropped somewhere. I didn’t worry too much about it for she had not mentioned it in days. So, I certainly wasn’t going to bring up the subject and thereby send myself on the hunt for the missing watch.

And then…

Naturally, it was a Sunday morning. Naturally, we were rushing about getting ready for church. Naturally, I had no spare moment to find a watch. And she remembered it. Thankfully, she is always excited about going to church, so when I told her I wasn’t sure where the watch was but we would find it later, she happily accepted that and we all got to church on time looking half-way presentable. But since I had no earthly clue where that thing could have fallen off, I did pray God would give me direction for the hunt later.

At our church there is a break between the Sunday school hour and the church service when people mingle in the entry hall, sipping coffee and enjoying donuts. After I get her from her class, Emry is allowed to sit in a corner and happily eat a donut. While she was doing so, I suddenly remember the watch and prayed yet again that God would help me find it. Then we gathered our stuff and headed upstairs to our usual pew in the balcony...

…where Emry’s watch sat. Right there, sparkling away on the pew. And the missing little metal piece was resting on the floor below it. And while Emry happily scooped it up, I was completely stunned. I had had a sinking suspicion she had not lost the watch in our house and I was going to have to 1) explain that through a torrent of tears and protests and 2) replace it. So to find it sitting right there in our regular pew…well, I breathed a prayer of grateful thanksgiving. 

Truly, God does know all things.