Bags and springs

I don’t use handbags as a rule. And I didn’t use one on this occasion but when I was searching at the bottom of my shoulder bag it reminded me of the days when I used to conform to type and carried a handbag (to church, at least).

I couldn’t find anything in the bag. I was looking for something small and as I rooted around in the bottom of the bag my hand touched many familiar items but not one of them was the right one for that moment.

Although I remained pleased that I could identify things in the bag without looking at them I soon began to despair because I didn’t find exactly what I was looking for.

The multiple items I was carrying in the bag had somehow managed to undo a pen I had in there. I found the lid, the barrel and the ink refill but when I put them all together with the other pieces the pen did not work; something was still missing.

Almost immediately I realised that it was the spring and this time I emptied the bag out – to no avail.

The pen was now useless to me. I was not happy.

A few days later I had my hand in the bag again and felt something unexpected; when I pulled it out I realised that it was the lost spring. This discovered both baffled and pleased me.

I had ceased looking for it and yet it presented itself to me without great ceremony when I least expected it. I reunited the spring with the pen and was suddenly grateful that I had not yet thrown it away – as I had already deemed it useless.

When the right things are in the right place at the right time well, everything just seems to work as it is supposed to. Sometimes you just have to wait for the thing you were looking for to be discovered. It all falls into place when you least expect it to – at least it did for me and my pen!