What Really is Important in Life?

I had one of the scariest nights ever tonight.  My good friend's son was missing...for three hours.  It was so horrible and I felt so helpless.  Thankfully, he was found safe and sound.  It really makes you think, however. 

This sweet boy is only eight years old.  He walked out of school and hadn't been seen since.  Jered happened to be at school and as soon as we heard the office do an all-call for him, we walked around the outside of the school.  Nowhere.  We went inside and found out that he was not on the school bus or at home.  That's when panic started to set in, but just a bit.  We have children go "missing" all the time.  They are always found within thirty minutes at a friend's house.  This boy was missing for three hours!  That never, ever happens.  After the first hour, you start to think that maybe things won't go so well.  When it starts getting dark and rainy, you really start to panic.  I found myself searching empty fields for this child, my friend's child.  What if I would have found something horrible?  I can't even bare to think of it.

I can't begin to explain the support that showed up for this family.  Not knowing what else to do, I put his picture on my Facebook page and started texting his picture to everyone I know locally.  People replied immediately.  Friends who don't even know the child or his family came to the school to help canvass the neighborhood.  Teachers came back to school, on a Friday night, to help look for him.  School police, office staff, sheriff.  This boy was GOING to be found.

Thankfully, he was found at a friend's house.  There had been a miscommunication about what was supposed to happen after school.  I am so happy to report a happy ending to my story.

But this story made me think.  What if we didn't find him?  How would that change things?  My friend's life?  My life?  Suddenly my dirty house, my bills, my stresses in life seem so....so petty.  Really, what matters in life?  My family, my friends, my children and my amazing community matter.  I am still so overwhelmed and humbled by the support we received tonight.  People who don't even know them dropped everything, on a Friday night, when they really just wanted to go home and rest, to find this child.  And they don't regret a second of it.

That's what's important in life.  This amazing, wonderful life.