I got this in email earlier this week, so don't know who to give proper credit to, let me just say, I am not the author and am not pretending that I could have written something so profound. Please don't add me to the blogging plagiarizer list. I am however grateful for not only the clay ball that sent it to me, but for all the other clay balls in my life!
Clay Balls
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 thought little about it, until he dropped one of the clay balls and it cracked open on a rock . Inside was a beautiful, precious stone!
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, but he had just thrown it away!
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. But we have not taken the time to find the treasure hidden inside that person.
There is a treasure in each and every one of us. If we take the time to get to know that person then the clay begins to peel away and the brilliant gem begins to shine forth.
May we not come to the end of our lives and find out that we have thrown away a fortune in friendships because the gems were hidden in bits of clay.
I am so blessed by the gems of friendship I have with you.. Thank you for looking beyond my clay vessel.
APPRECIATE EVERY SINGLE
THING YOU HAVE, ESPECIALLY YOUR FRIENDS!
LIFE IS TOO SHORT AND FRIENDS ARE TOO FEW!
6 comments:
I've heard that one before and loved it. Maybe it's just what you need for that YW lesson we were talking about...
I haven't heard this one before. Thanks for sharing!
very inspiring story! Yes, I agree, today, people are often deceived by the what they see in the outside instead of the inner self.
WoW! That is a beautiful story!!! ...and How true!!
...can I be a beautifully hand-crafted clay paper weight with a diamond still in side? Hehehe???
I am the opposite. I tend to hold on to the clay balls that are just clay balls long after they have fulfilled their usefullness and are now just taking up space on my shelf, collecting dust. I have a hard time putting relationships aside, even bad ones for me. But I really like the concept of this story.
I loved this story!
Post a Comment