{"id":9265,"date":"2022-09-06T07:59:08","date_gmt":"2022-09-06T12:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/?p=9265"},"modified":"2022-09-06T07:06:11","modified_gmt":"2022-09-06T12:06:11","slug":"9265-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/9265-2\/","title":{"rendered":"September 11, 2022–Be Still, Be Found"},"content":{"rendered":"

Heather Hansen, San Antonio, TX<\/b><\/p>\n

Warm-up Question<\/b><\/h4>\n

Have you ever been lost?\u00a0 <\/span>What was the situation and how were you \u201cfound\u201d?<\/p>\n

Be Still, Be Found<\/b><\/h4>\n

A common human experience human is to lose something.\u00a0 <\/span>Losing something can be very frustrating and produce a lot of stress, especially when you\u2019re in a hurry or it\u2019s a really important item.\u00a0 <\/span>There are many reasons for why this happens; more often than not, we find the things we’ve lost when least expect it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

But did you also know that it is common for people to \u201cfreak out\u201d \u00a0when they <\/i>are the thing that is lost?\u00a0 <\/span>In an article<\/a> written by Michael Bond in May 2020, Bond details the sad story of a surveyor finding the remains of a female hiker who was reported missing two years earlier.\u00a0 <\/span>She left the Appalachian trail to find a private spot just a few yards from the path. \u00a0When she was ready to return, she became completely disoriented.\u00a0 <\/span>This is a very common occurrence in the forest, where there are frequently no distinguishing landmarks or focal points to use for direction.<\/p>\n

Bond writes:<\/p>\n

\u201cLost is a cognitive state.\u00a0 <\/span>Your internal map has become detached from the external world, and nothing in your spatial memory matches what you see. \u00a0 <\/span>But at its core, it is an emotional state\u202690 percent of people make things a lot worse for themselves when they realize they are lost \u2013 by running, for instance.\u00a0 <\/span>Because they are afraid, they can\u2019t solve problems or figure out what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bond also writes that finding a lost person is just as much a psychological puzzle as it is a geographical hunt. Research and interviews with found persons reveal that running when lost is not only common, but a strong compulsion.\u00a0 <\/span>The urge to run is one reason we teach young children to \u201cstay in one place\u201d when they find they are lost.\u00a0 <\/span>Usually, you aren\u2019t far from where you need to be and it\u2019s much easier to find you if you stay in one spot.<\/p>\n

Discussion Questions<\/b><\/h4>\n