LOOK A LITTLE DEEPER
It is of paramount importance that we learn to look beneath
the surface, beyond mere exteriors. Often, priceless treasures are hidden
within what seems to be sure and certain at first glance.
A man was exploring caves by the seashore. In one of the caves, he found a canvas bag filled with hardened clay balls. It seemed that someone had rolled those clay balls and left them outside to bake in the sun.
Although they didn’t look like much, the clay balls intrigued the man, so he carried the bag out of the cave with him. As he strolled along the beach, he threw the clay balls one at a time, as far as he could into the ocean.
He thought little about it, until he accidentally dropped one of the clay balls and it cracked open. Inside was a beautiful and precious stone!
Overwhelmed with excitement, the man broke open the remaining clay balls. Each contained a similar treasure. He discovered the equivalent of thousands of dollars in jewels in the 20 or so remaining clay balls.
Then it struck him. He had been walking on the beach for a long time. He had thrown approximately 50 or 60 clay balls, with their hidden treasures, into the ocean waves. Instead of tens of thousands of dollars of value, he could have possessed hundreds of thousands, but he had just thrown those muddy balls away!
It’s like that not only with things, but with people. We look at others, perhaps even ourselves, and we see the external clay vessels. Sometimes, they may not look like much from the outside. They aren’t always gorgeous, or bright, or brilliant, so we are tempted to discount and discard them. Sometimes, we see such a person as less important than others who appear to be more accomplished, stylish, famous, or wealthy. But we simply have not taken the necessary time or effort to discover the treasure that is hidden inside.
There is a rare and priceless treasure within every one of us. If we would only take the time to get to know a person, and if we would ask GOD to show us that person the way that HE sees them, then the exterior clay would begin to dissolve and the brilliant gem would begin to sparkle and shine.
May we not come to the end of our lives and find out that we have thrown away a tremendous fortune in friendships because priceless gems were hidden inside ugly bits of clay. May we learn to SEE as GOD sees. One of the lines in my personal vision statement is this: “To love, learn and live – from God’s point of view.” Think about it.
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