little miss messy

This is a story about a girl whose name is Ms Messy.

Ms Messy is, as her name suggests, a messy girl. She is a hoarder and likes to pack the whole house into her bag whenever she goes out. Ms Messy used to also be Ms Careless. Growing up, Ms Messy-Careless often lost her things – wallets in toilets, handphones in cabs, hairclips & hairties everywhere, that kinda thing. She always got scolded by Daddy. Daddy scolded cos besides the fact that she was wasting money with these big losses, he also didn’t like to see his baby distraught (cos Ms Messy-Careless was also Ms Sentimental & would be very affected whenever she misplaced precious been-around-forever things).

But Ms Messy-Careless grew. She took a long time but eventually learnt ways to take better care of her belongings - never going out without a bag, looking around before leaving a table or cab, checking contents for the usual items before departing. She also self-taught ways to keep the tiny stuff too so that everything in the bag is neater & easier for transfer into other bags. These tiny stuff (mints, hairties, clips) she placed in a pretty silk pouch. She became Ms Messy-but-not-so-Careless.

Ms Messy had a watch. Daddy gave her this watch when she was 14 and it was the most precious gift from Daddy her whole life (besides life, education, love lar).

One day, Ms Messy was in her usual scurrying around mode. It was a busy weekend where she attended a farewell party after tennis, tennis after church, church after a wedding, wedding after a retreat.

Ms Messy wore the watch sometime during the weekend. She thinks she wore it to the retreat & tennis cos she normally does that for outdoor stuff. But somehow on Monday morning, she couldn’t find the watch after unpacking all the bags. As the realisation dawned, she panicked & searched harder. She emptied each bag & felt through every nook & cranny, every pocket & seam. She couldn’t find the watch anywhere! She started to recall where she could have misplaced it & began ringing up her friends to ask them for help.

She called the friend who arrived at the courts with her. Mr Arrive-together couldn’t recall if she was wearing the watch or remember seeing her take it off. He remembered the people who used the courts after & suggested Ms Messy contacted them. He was very supportive & gave many good suggestions (like checking through tennis shorts & pockets of skirt). She did all this, but to no avail.

She called the friend who stayed at the estate where tennis was played. Mr Stay-near-courts was very kind and went to scour through every corner, tar & blade of the tennis courts. He even went to ask Management to see who else had used the courts. He made Management promise to revert if anyone returned it. He did all this, but to no avail.

She called the friend who drove her home after tennis. Mr Drop-her-off was also very kind. He offered many words of empathy (re his own watch loss some years ago) and kept to his word to look through his car. He did this, but to no avail.

She even called the other friend who stayed at the estate to check the ladies toilet. Ms Stay-near-courts did so, but to no avail.

As the smses of failure to find the watch came in, she felt more & more sad. She blamed herself for being careless. She was upset she even wore it out. She thought about how much it meant to her & her heart was pained & heavy the whole whole day. She was listless even though she was on leave and didn’t have the mood to really talk to anybody (except Mr Lets-go-shopping-&-eating-to-cheer-you-up). But she did whined to her friend Ms Im-so-sorry-to hear. Ms Im-so-sorry-to-hear listened & comforted her saying:

Its better to lose the watch than the giver of the watch

Ms Messy thought that made a lot of sense.

Ms Messy knew she shouldn’t feel so bad as it was just a watch. So for perspective & to make herself feel better, she decided to read Job. What was losing a watch compared to losing everything? This verse was underlined & (though its abit out of proportion) she was struck by it.

“Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?"
In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.

After reading Job & praying, Ms Messy fell asleep.

The next morning, Ms Messy woke up still with the pain in her heart. She prayed while brushing her teeth. That God would somehow bring the watch back OR make her get over it. She was resigned to never finding it again.

Then as she was transferring stuff to a new bag for work, she chanced on THE pretty silk pouch. Sigh. What are the chances its in here? She thought, unzipping it. Lo & behold, her eyes widened - she saw IT! The precious watch WAS in the pouch! She was so happy & relieved, her heart was bursting! She immediately told Daddy & msged all the friends that helped to find or listened to her sadness. And all her friends replied with joy & congrats!

Ms Messy realised the irony – in her attempts to be careful, she subconsciously kept her watch safely in the silk pouch. So she wasn’t careless, she just didn’t remember doing that. Maybe she isn’t just Ms Messy, but Ms Forgetful too?

This episode reminded her of the parable in the Bible which she quotes here, partly out of context from Luke 15:

“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Ms Messy understood what it felt like to have her friends participate in helping her look for the lost watch and eventually share her joy when it was found. It was a glimpse re the type of rejoicing that takes place in heaven when someone repents. Ms Messy was thankful God answered her prayers, gave her good friends. Most of all, she was reminded she shdn’t only take the good but also trouble/bad stuff from Him. That would mean being content & happy even if the watch was never found.

The End.