About 2 years ago my late mother gifted me 2 kitchen gadgets designed for people with decreasing mobility. As I didn’t believe this term applied to me I didn’t see the need for them, or really appreciate their value until I started using them. One is this …

It is called a ‘Jar Key’ and it’s an ingenious item that does away with the recurring need for demonstrations of machismo in opening stubborn jar lids. You only need to position it on the lid and with a gentle lift of the wrist, the seal of the jar is broken which enables the lid to slide open effortlessly.

The other kitchen gadget is this one …

It is called a ‘Can Key’ and it has saved countless fingernails. It hooks under ring pulls on the top of cans and levers the lid off. I seriously did not know how much I would LOVE this device until I started using it. So much so that it has a specific spot in my kitchen 2nd drawer to ensure it is always in easy reach.

Until the day I lost it.

It was a day that started like any other and then I went to reach for my Can Key only to discover that it wasn’t in its usual spot in the drawer. I figured it was still in the drawer, but just in a different spot. My 2nd kitchen drawer is the one notoriously prone to disorganisation, usually due to the ‘helpful’ dishwasher emptying individuals not realising the system I employ to help stop this happening.

A quick rummage did not yield results, and so I checked another kitchen drawer in case it was mistakenly put back there. No luck. Back to more thoroughly search the first location but I still could not locate it. I tried the cupboards, but I could not see what I thought would be readily visible.

I asked the other inhabitants of my home where they may have put this device. Both of them denied knowing what I was talking about, having no recollection of ever seeing the Can Key before! 🤦🏼‍♀️

I needed to resort to more primitive strategies to open the said can, and every can after that sent me re-checking all the same spots in the vain hope it would materialise. It did not.

This continued for some weeks until I came to the point of admitting my prized kitchen utensil would never be found and perhaps I should look at replacing it.

I headed to my local kitchen supplies store, only to discover they do not stock it, and never have. They have the Jar Key (which is made by the same manufacturer) but the only way I could restore order to my world would be to purchase the Can Key online.

I will confess I was reticent to do so, partly because of the sentimental value I had now attributed to this little piece of plastic that was given to me by my mum, but also because I don’t like paying ‘shipping’!

Anyway, it was a good thing, it turns out, that I didn’t immediately order a replacement as only a few days later I opened a kitchen cupboard (one that I had searched multiple times before) and noticed that some things had been rearranged.

Lo and behold, as I was moving these things back to where they should go, there before me was my missing Can Key. The lost had been found! There was a shout of delight and my eyes did well up slightly, all for the joy this discovery brought me.

My jubilant outcry was met with marked indifference from my household, but somehow my world had righted itself again as I returned this odd shaped marvel to its spot in the 2nd kitchen drawer.

Straight away my mind went to the line in the famous hymn Amazing Grace: “I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see.” I pondered for some time about my joy for finding my lost kitchen gadget and compared that to the joy felt as people who are lost to God are found once more and returned to their rightful spot in His Kingdom.

Jesus speaks a great deal about the importance of lost people becoming ‘found’. Try reading all of Luke chapter 15 where He shares 3 ‘lost’ stories in a row. This repetition emphasises how vital it is to be found and restored to where you belong.

I am so grateful that I can count myself as one of the ‘found’. If you would like to be too, may I encourage you to seek out someone who is a part of a Christian faith community/church and speak to them about it.

In case you are wondering, no one has confessed to losing my Can Key in the first place. If you are at all interested in getting your own, they can be found by searching “Brix Can Key”!

Be blessed.