Once upon a time, there was a legend. This legend spoke of a new, unexplored land with riches hidden in its soil.
One day at the beginning of December, the leader of the land declared to everybody the truth: The legend was real. Thousands of people packed up everything they had to go to this land.
Some people didn’t believe it. Some people believed it too much. Some people envisioned mountains of precious stones. Some envisioned leading their families into the wilderness to die. Which rumors were true? What did it take to find this treasure?
Families really did strike it rich. Families really did starve to death. But when it was all over, there were billions of dollars’ worth of gold in the ground.
Compared to the rest of the useless sand and stone, there wasn’t much gold. In fact, there were thousands of times more soil than there was gold. But when people found a nugget or even a spec of gold, it didn’t matter how many tons of dirt were around it. Of course there would be dirt. It was constantly before them, and it was always immediately in front of them. But to find gold, you had to constantly be thinking about it – what it looked like, where it could be hiding, how best to extract it, how to compete, how to work together. You had to see what wasn’t there… yet.
Gold was rare in the immediate reality of the situation, but it was always on the minds of the prospectors. Some even went crazy because they were so lost in greed. But these thoughts are what made the treasure a reality for those who focused on the prize. Some were discouraged when they toiled away all day, gaining nothing but injuries and fatigue. But if gold wasn’t precious, if it wasn’t rare, why seek it out in the first place?
Was this treasure really worth all of the deaths it caused? Over the years, a lot of people were buried in that dirt. But many more families and generations followed than the number of those that perished in the immediate rush. And out of those rare nuggets sprouted a blessed nation.
Wow… This is such an interesting piece. Thank you for this.
On the outside it looks like profit but on the inside is where the real gold is. Its amazing how someone can drop everything for an object. I’ve even done it. Spose it’s all part of the fall. But God did make gold beautiful so we could see his work.
My friends have had professors whose marriages and families have fallen apart because their hearts lie with their jobs more than their own families. And then of course there’s the woman who assaulted a man with a taser because she treasured an X-Box more than this man’s well-being.
We all have our addictions. And the more something (or someone) captures our desire, the more dangerous it is for anything that lies on our path to obtain it.
A man or woman who truly treasures something often throws everything else to the wind. In many circumstances, it’s just plain foolish or selfish. Do you think it’s ever wise to give up everything to gain something else?
No but I have lived my life that way. I drop everything, even food and sleep for a game or a person. I do think that God can have us lose the things we think we need so we do look to him. I dont know if that is the same if even similar.