For four days, my son looked for his lunchbox — at school, in his locker, at home, on top of the fridge, in the car.

Nothing.

It seemed a futile search.

In a last-ditch effort, he tried retracing his steps and searching harder in every place he’d already tried.

“If I were me, where would I put my lunchbox?” he said pensively, casting his eyes on the bench in the hallway, a collection point for backpacks, notebooks, jackets, and every school item imaginable.

He stopped. His mouth dropped open.

“No way!” he exclaimed as he grabbed the elusive lunchbox triumphantly off the bench. “It’s been here all along!”

He grinned while the rest of us groaned at his having overlooked the obvious place to begin the search in the first place.

Searching for God

And yet, what a blessing it is when that thrill of discovery, that “a-ha” moment, happens in our spiritual lives, too.

How many of us have had the experience of searching for Our Lord for a long time — in times of aridity, sadness, or anxiety — only to find He has been residing deep in our hearts all along, waiting patiently for us to discover Him there for ourselves?

He is always very close, in every moment of our lives, even if we can’t sense it.

And sometimes it is important to remind ourselves that our faith is not based on what we feel, but on what we know.

And what do we know?

We know the Truth of what He has promised us: that He will never abandon us.

“You can be sure that I will be with you always. I will continue with you until the end of time,” Jesus said (Matthew 28:20).

And this Truth is what we hang onto even if our senses fail and there are no consolations, even if we go through endless trials and suffering, even if it seems as if the world around us is falling apart.

Just as grief is always a part of you or the love for your children is always present, so too do you carry the love of God with you, deep in your heart, supplying you always with the graces you need in every situation, whether or not you are aware.

God loves you

This knowledge is what gives you the steadiness in your Faith no matter what swirls around you in the 
surface life.

Through the ups and downs, the peaks and valleys, you are a child of God, Who loves you beyond comprehension.

This is the knowledge that will give you peace regardless of whatever tragedies befall you in this earthly life.

Even if you forget that He is there, He will never forget you.

“Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to have pity on the son of her womb? And if she should forget, yet will not I forget thee” (Isaiah 49:15).

With you all along

Sometimes it is easy for us to forget, amidst the chaos of family life or the busy-ness of work or the endless noise battling for our attention.

Yet in the stillness of prayer — and in the reading of Scripture, in the Mass, and in the Sacraments — sometimes He gives us little nudges to remind us that He is right there within you.

He has been, all along.

He’s just waiting for you to discover Him . . . to remember Him . . . to love Him.

In the deepest recesses of your heart, it’s a triumphant, obvious (re)discovery just waiting to happen.