I remember you so clearly, although I'm sure you don't even know I exist. I saw you first in a dollar store; Buck or Two perhaps, and it was the sound of your pitiful crying that drew me like a magnet. You were only about two months old, and you mother was busy shopping so I offered to hold you for awhile. I never could resist a baby in anguish! To my surprise she agreed quite readily to me holding you, and went about her leisurely browsing. Well, that 'hungry cry' was getting awful loud so I did what I did with my own children. Don't tell anyone, but I put my finger into your mouth to let you suck on it. Yeah, it pacified you, but only for a moment. I kept looking towards your mother, but she seemed unconcerned, I walked the aisles and tried to soothe you but it simply wouldn't work, not when you were that hungry!
I finally took you back to your Mommy, probably saying that you were hungry. Well, she took you alright, and I watched as she strolled into another store to continue her shopping!
My heart nearly broke when I saw her indifference but one good thing came out of it. I have often prayed for you, and may God bless your heart. Love ya.
I'm going to tack on an email someone sent me. It seems to connect with story I just shared.
One Clay Ball to Another
A man was exploring caves by the seashore. In one of the caves he found a canvas bag with a bunch of hardened balls. It was like someone had rolled clay balls and left them 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 threw 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 twenty or so clay balls he had left.
Then it struck him. He had been on the beach a long time. He had thrown maybe fifty or sixty 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 thoughtlessly thrown them 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, 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
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