ALWAYS LOOK ON THE INSIDE

[Guest guest]

ALWAYS LOOK ON THE INSIDE I remember reading a story once about a man who was exploring some caves bythe seashore. In one of the caves he found a canvas bag with a bunch ofhardened clay balls. It was like someone had rolled up some clay and leftthem out in the sun to bake. They didn't look like much, but they intriguedthe man so he took the bag out of the cave with him. As he strolled along the beach, to pass the time, he would throw the clayballs one at a time out into the ocean as far as he could throw. He thought little about it until he dropped one of the balls and it crackedopen on a rock. Inside was a beautiful, precious stone. Excited, the manstarted breaking open the remaining clay balls. Each contained a

similartreasure. He found thousands of dollars worth of jewels in the 20 or so clayballs he had left, then it struck him. He had been on the beach a long time. He had thrown maybe 50 or 60 of theclay balls with their hidden treasure into the ocean waves. Instead ofthousands of dollars in treasure, he could have had tens of thousands, buthe just threw it all away. You know sometimes, it's like that with people. We look at someone, maybeeven ourselves, and we see the external clay vessel. It doesn't look likemuch from the outside. It isn't always beautiful or sparkling, so wediscount it; we see that person as less important than someone morebeautiful or stylish or well known or wealthy. But we have not taken the time to find the treasure hidden inside thatperson. There is a treasure hidden in every one of us. We are wonderfullymade. Not just our physical bodies, our spiritual selves, which aresometimes hidden from others by the *earthen vessel* But if you take the time to get to know that person, and if you ask theSpirit to show you that person the way He sees them, then the clay begins topeel away and the brilliant gem begins to shine forth. The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile,nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes toone when he discovers that someone else believes in him and is willing totrust him with his friendship. -- author Unknown

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