"Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. ~ John 14:27"

Friday, October 8, 2010

Clay Balls

I can't take credit for this, I got it in an email from my mom but I just love it because it is so true!!  
I Thank God for all of you!!

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.   
  
I am so blessed by the gems of friendship I have with you.  Thank you for looking beyond my clay vessel. 


APPRECIATE EVERY SINGLE

THING YOU HAVE, ESPECIALLY YOUR FRIENDS!

LIFE IS TOO SHORT AND FRIENDS ARE TOO FEW!
Pin It

5 comments:

baby love said...

Girl...I LOVE THIS!!! I've read this a while ago & am thankful for the reminder! Thank YOU for looking beyond MY clay vessel!

So true - life is WAY too short to even think about anyone else's vessel!!

May your weekend be a truly blessed one, full of tons of fun and laughs! Hope the little one has a blast with the grandparents while you & hubs enjoy each others company!!!! :)

oxox-Camille

My Mad World said...

Thanks Camille!! I'm hoping we will have a great weekend!!

I'm glad I could share this with you again. There are so many good ones out there like this one and anytime I can reread them I really love it! Thank you for looking past my vessel too! =)

Hope you have a great weekend!

MTJ said...

Hi Nicole,

There is much truth in this story. I especially liked, "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."

Too often we allow ourselves to be drawn to or repulsed by what our eyes see; failing to recognize true worth in someone.

Thank you for sharing it.

Blessings and peace to you, Shane and Maddie. Enjoy the weekend.

MTJ

Michelle said...

Hi Nicole,

This is very precious.
Thanks for posting it.
Man judges the outside.
But, God judges the heart.

My Mad World said...

MTJ- I have to remind myself of that sometimes. I need to be more like when I was young and didn't care what someone looked like because we all know that doesn't matter at all! God doesn't look at us like that so we shouldn't look at others like that either. Blessings to you and your wife too! Hope you have a great weekend! Big hugs to you both!

Michelle,
Very true!! I need to remember that some days.
Hope you have a blessed weekend too Michelle!

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails

Bloggers.com

Nicole - Find me on Bloggers.com
Daisypath Anniversary tickers
Get your own free Blogoversary button!