This is the story of a pair of socks that were separated one day at the Laundromat. They had always been together at the store and in the drawer. They were able to tolerate their temporary separations, knowing that at the end of the day they would end up together again in the same basket.
One day, however, one of the socks was left behind inside an old dryer. For some reason unknown to most of us, many socks suffer the same fate. They enter into the washer as a couple and come out of the dryer single. This is a great mystery that I haven’t been able to solve.
Many days later, the lost sock was somehow found in a corner of the Laundromat. By now, it was dirty and disfigured, but after a good wash the sock came back to life better than ever before—it looked brand new! You can only imagine the excitement and happiness the pair felt as they were reunited once again.
The moral of this story is that separation brings pain and reunification is a source of joy. In this world we live in, there is constant separation. Children leave their homes for college or marriage; husbands leave their wives for an army mission or because he found a new love (or vice versa) and our loved ones depart from us too soon.
Oh, but what a joy it is to have a family reunion! I burst with gladness every time I have my whole family together. Those fleeting moments go by so fast, but the sweet memories abide with us for a long time. I am looking forward to a big family reunion this year, perhaps in Thanksgiving or Nativity.
Nothing in this world compares with the glorious joy we will experience when we reunite with our Father and God in heaven. We were lost like the sock, and the sin of this world contaminated us and separated us from God.
This is what happened to our first forefathers. Adam and Eve were expulsed from paradise (Genesis 3:23, 24) and from any fellowship from God. The whole human race was lost forever and all of us would have perished, were it not for God’s grace and the supreme sacrifice of his Son in our behalf.
Great was the joy of the Prodigal Son when he returned home; but there was someone even more joyous: His father (Luke 15:20-24). In the same way, our heavenly Father will rejoice with everlasting gladness on the day when we reunite with Him forever (Zephaniah 3:17).
A. G.
