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Lost and Found



I love irony and a good play on words.  I once saw the following notice:

“The lost and found key is lost and needs to be found”

I assume, from the notice, that the “lost and found” items were being stored in some type of locked storage area and the key to the lock had been lost.  Talk about delicious irony!

A key is a small metal instrument specially cut to fit into a lock and move its bolt.  But a key could also be something that affords a means of access, such as the key to happiness.  It can also be something that secures or controls entrance to a place, such as Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.

So, to take this bit of irony and engage in a play on words….

“To be lost and then be found, a key is needed”

A classic hymn contains this familiar line:  “I once was lost but now am found”.

What was the key that the hymn writer was suggesting?  Was it a small metal instrument?  Not likely.  But there is something that secures entrance or affords the means of access into a condition of being found while experiencing the condition of being lost.

The key in this case is both the title of the hymn and its opening words:  “Amazing Grace” 

In my case, and I hope yours, the needed lost and found key actually found me!


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