Archives at Zinester: Time Sensitive Please read today!. Storytime

I am so sorry that I marked the wrong email address for Storytime Tapestry members to send anniversary cards to Hart and Helen, who celebrates their 50th anniversary today. They do so much for the people of Storytime Tapestry, please take the time to acknowledge their special day.

You know this past week makes me think that the mind is such an incredible power that it literally expands whatever it touches. When we are faced with challenges, obstacles or problems, our tendency is to nurture them. We talk about them. We describe them vividly. We monitor our problems progress day by day, imagining how much they are growing and how their effects are devastating every aspect of our lives. What we are actually doing is giving the problem more value than it’s worth. Anyway, when confronted with a difficulty, we must immediately shift our attention from the problem to the solution. We can think, speak and bring the best possible out come into existence by focusing on where we are going, not on where we think we are. My positive, faithful attitude quickly brings my good. …and remember, my attitude determines my altitude!

Today is our fiftieth (50) wedding anniversary, "Praise God" for 50 wonderful years together. As I reflect on the curse of divorce, broken friendships and even estranged family members, the story of the clay balls seems most appropriate to share. What amazes me the most as I do my research for the things that I write I am especially saddened that amongst us Christians, who should be the shining example of successful marriages, we are the largest growing numbers of divorcees.

Perhaps if we keep the following story in mind going forward in 2007, we can circumvent throwing away…the clay balls.

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, 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 fortune in friendships because the gems were hidden in bits of clay. May we see the people in our world as God sees them.

We are so blessed by the gems of friendship we have with each of you. Thank you for looking beyond our clay vessel.

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Pass this on to another CLAY BALL