Name your gluesticks

The gatekeeper opens the gate for him,
and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him.
He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
(John 10:3)

I recently heard about a primary school teacher who was becoming exasperated with the number of gluesticks that would go missing in her classroom. They would roll under the bookcase, or the lids would be lost in the art corner, and each week she was having to replace them. So, she had an ingenious idea to give each of her class gluesticks a name! No longer would she say to the children “I’m sure we had 10, but now there are only 8!”, she would say, “Derek is missing, please could someone find Derek!”. And no longer would she say, “where are all the lids?”; she would say “Mabel has lost her hat, please could someone find it?”. And these gluestick characters took on such personas that never again did they go missing; the children would search diligently until they found Harold, and they wouldn’t dream of letting Edith get a cold head! No one would rest until all of the gluesticks were safely tucked up in their box each day.
 
When we think about all the millions of people that Jesus cares about, it’s easy to imagine that a few going missing here and there wouldn’t be noticed. We could imagine that if we rolled away, hidden in a corner, we might be left, forgotten. But, like those named gluesticks, Jesus knows each one of us by name. If we go missing, it matters. If we lose our lid (metaphorically or literally!), it matters. He will search for us until we are found, and He will work to keep us in one piece!
 
In the Bible there is a parable where a shepherd loses one of His 100 sheep, and He searches diligently until that lost sheep is brought home safely. But it’s not just a numbers game; that one missing sheep has a name, a personality, a story, and an identity. That one missing sheep is known. Deeply. And so are you and I. 

You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
You saw me before I was born.
(Psalm 139:15-16)

Prayer - Lord Jesus, thank You that You know me by name, and thank You that I matter to You so much that You will keep searching and calling my name. Amen.

Photo and story @MrsLB_Thatto, X-nee-Twitter, 11 Jan 2022