Discovering the Jewels

I remember reading a story once about a man who was exploring some 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 up some clay 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 to pass the time, he would throw the clay balls 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 cracked open on a rock.  Inside was a beautiful, precious stone.  Excited, the man started breaking open the reamaining clay balls.  Each contained a similiar treasure.

He found hundreds 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 clay balls, with their hidden treasures into the ocean waves.  Instead of hundreds of dollars worth of treasures, he could have taken home thousands, but he just threw it away.

You know sometimes, it's like that with people.  We look at someone maybe even ourselves, and we see the external clay vessel.  It doesn't look like much from the outside.  It isn't always beautiful or sparkling, so we discount it, we see that person as less important than someone more beautiful, or stylish, or well known or wealthy.  We have not taken the time to find the treasure hidden inside that person by God.

There is treasure in each and every one of us.  The Bible says we are fearfully and wonderfully made.  I don't think He means just our physical bodies.  I think He means our spiritual selves, which are sometimes hidden from others by the "earthen vessel".  If you take time to get to know that person, and if you ask the Father to show you that person
the way He sees them, then the clay begins to peel 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 to one when he discovers that someone else believes in him and is willing to trust him with his friendship.