A Map For Your Treasure Hunt!
By Dr. Synesio Lyra, Jr.
Many people dream of reaching a mountain top for the opportunities they anticipate finding there. Yet, they may not realize that the greatest treasures available to them can easily be found near to where they already are, if not inside them and their fellows.
Climbing to a mountain top provides a great experience in the exercise of the discipline of reaching the peak. Once there, it also affords an awesome sight of distant places which can be viewed only from that altitude. Yet, normally that’s it! Once at the top, you can’t move any higher. The same corresponds to much that is buried at sea! You may get to the bottom of the ocean but not beyond that limit!
Before attempting to move farther in your daily routines, you still have other available options, whichever way you turn. At the very top, however, you are stuck, unless you desire to descend from the mountain and return to where you dwelt before.
It is inside and below the earth that gold, diamonds, and other precious items are hidden; it is by digging deeply that you can extract them from the ground, and enhance their value through what you do with them. But these are not the only treasures for you to consider! It is from where you are already placed, that you can make a lasting difference in lives you seek to influence, and in the society you attempt to impact through your varied efforts. Your own life also depends on others round about you.
Sir John Marks Templeton, reflected that “the real wealth of a nation does not come from mineral resources but from what lies in the minds and hearts of its people.” With individuals it is also the same: the most valuable treasures of life are not exclusively external to human creatures; they often are found within; they just need to be mined, refined, and utilized for the benefit of many, besides one’s personal thrill!
With such understanding, whoever acts in this fashion is most fortunate indeed! There’s nothing demeaning about residing in a valley, if that is where you are supposed to be and to excel!
I am reminded of a story about a very poor, crippled man, who spent all his adult life as a daily beggar, at a road corner in a village of his native country. After his death, the terrain where he had sat as a mendicant was discovered to be rich in fuel. From that site much oil was pumped, generating endless wealth to the land owner. Yet, the man of the story lived and died a pauper!
More important to recognize, however, is that the true riches of life are not monetary in nature. They are the family to which you belong, the friendships you develop and cultivate, the people in whom you invest yourself, the knowledge you acquire, the faith you embrace and in which you grow! Indeed, you need not go too far, neither to the depths of the sea, nor too high, in a treasure hunt; your most valuable resources may be found just where you are, as gifts of grace from the Almighty!
