Treasure Seeker's Surprise

How many balls of clay do you know?

A man was exploring caves by the seashore. In one of the caves he found a canvas bag with a bunch of hardened clay balls. It was like someone had rolled clay balls and left them out in the sun to bake. They didn't look like much, but they intrigued the man, so he took the bag out of the cave with him. As he strolled along the beach, he would throw the clay balls one at a time out into the ocean as far as he could. He liked to watch the splash they made and he thought at least he had found something to do with the useless balls of clay.

Everything changed when he dropped one of the clay balls and it cracked open on a rock. Inside was a beautiful, precious stone! He stared wide-eyed at the sparkling gem. Excited, the man started breaking open the remaining clay balls. Each contained a similar treasure. He found thousands of dollars worth of jewels in the 20 or so clay balls he had left. Then it struck him...

He had been on the beach a long time. He had thrown maybe 50 or 60 of the clay balls with their hidden treasure into the ocean waves. Instead of thousands of dollars in treasure, he could have taken home tens of thousands. He stared out at the waves as he realized what he had just thrown away!

So what's the moral of this story...?

It's like that with people. Most of them are clay balls. We look at people, maybe even ourselves, and we see a clay ball. They may not look like much on the outside. They may not always be beautiful or sparkling, so we discount them. We see them as less important than someone who is more beautiful. More stylish. More popular. They may not be wealthy or smart. The problem is, we have not taken the time to find the treasure hidden inside that person.

There is a treasure in every person you know. I know it can sometimes be hard to see. But if you will take the time to get to know that person, often times the clay ball will crack open and you will discover a brilliant jewel who will enrich your life. You will discover an amazing friend and an amazing person.

Who can you think of right now that you see as nothing but a Clay Ball? Will you accept my challenge today to see that person as a potential treasure? Will you do something today to discover more about who that person really is – try to find the treasure in them?

My hope is that you will not come to the end of your life and find out you have thrown away a fortune in friendships because the gems were hidden in bits of clay. May you take the time to see ALL the people in your life as special people. Mostly, I hope you take time to see the beauty in yourself...because you truly are a beautiful creation.