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 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 treasures 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 always look like much from the outside.  It isn't 
always beautiful or sparkling, so we
discount it.

Sometimes 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 hidden treasure 
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,and if
we ask God to show us that person the way He sees them, 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 friendship because
the gems were hidden in bits of clay.  May we see people in our world 
as God sees them.  I am so
blessed by the gems of friendship I have with each of you.

Thank you for looking beyond my clay vessel.

Pass this on to other clay balls!! :-)


-- 
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.1.405 / Virus Database: 268.11.7/436 - Release Date: 9/1/2006