As a kid, did you ever find something cool in the dirt while you were digging to make the perfect town for your hot wheels cars? Perhaps a coin, or something antique, or completely worthless to an adult but to you it was awesome? We found some old items in the ground once, like a broken porcelain doll's head; real treasures, they were – to us. How about purposely walking along the beach searching for sea glass or extra special stones? I have found plenty of water-worn glass and Petoskey stones over the years through diligent seeking. Treasure.
Then there is our first job and the first items we buy – I remember them as if I bought them yesterday. I still have the first pair of jeans I paid for myself, holey and properly patched and repatched. I may throw them out…someday. These treasures came with that amazing feeling of accomplishment - the best treasure of all when obtaining something we’ve worked for. These items are set aside or thrown out one day, but the confidence stays in our souls.
As adults, we strive to get treasure (an income) so we can survive and possibly thrive. We work hard, we clock in and clock out, we try to be an asset where we are. We receive that regular paycheck and buy the necessities and hope there is enough left over for some fun things: treasures of time, play, wants. These are the “treasures” we work for, that we “find” or acquire. They are our livelihood. Our necessity. And sometimes our fun.
And then sometimes we are given treasures… Some of us are handed family jobs, money, or homes. Most of us can say we’ve been given presents that turned out to be treasures – or seemed to be. These are gifts that can be treasures or they can be detriments to our maturity and wellbeing.
There are other gifts that are out of our control like the talents we are born with. Being able to do something with our minds or hands. Artists and accountants don’t just go to school to learn how to do their craft; they work for it, but they are also given the talent, the ability to thrive in these areas. Children and grandchildren are given to us. We initiate the process, but – as some can attest – getting pregnant can be impossible. And what moment in time does which particular egg get fertilized by which particular sperm to create exactly how a child is formed in the womb. With personalities, talents, and physical and emotional attributes intact. Pretty miraculous gifts, children are. And so are we. A treasure unto ourselves.
There are also gifts of love: hugs, time, labor, help… These are often priceless, lingering in us forever.
What is your real treasure? Building up money may give us our basic physical needs, wants, desires, and it is nice to not have to worry about how we are going to pay our bills, but does it give us our innermost needs? Love, friendship, confidence, maturity, a sense of belonging, peace, joy – not happiness, which is fleeting – are not these what our souls really need? (This is not a "don't bother having a job" blog, it's a "we need more than money" blog.)
One of the ways of life is that sometimes we earn or find our treasures and some treasures come to us. We are gifted them. It is also one of the joys of life. Because the treasures we are gifted with give us the joy of receiving what we did not earn or work for. This teaches us to be thankful and appreciate the good in our lives. With that gratitude, we can choose to gift others with gifts of joy when they are in need of love…of treasure.
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