What are you searching for?

Searching for Gold

         All through history, people have been searching for something. Some desire riches, some, power, and some, like my sons, on a beautiful June day, last year, search for gold. But what is it, really, that we are searching for? 

      My sons hoped to find gold for the excitement of it, and because, lets be honest, who wouldn't want to find gold?!

     But I'm not searching for that kind of Gold... I'm searching for the kind that you can't find in a riverbed. I'm searching for the kind of gold you can't even touch. It's the kind that adds something to your life that can't be measured on a scale. Finding that kind of gold is a passion of mine. I have been searching for it most of my life and I haven't come up empty handed! I've been collecting nuggets for years! 

     There were long periods of time in my life where I searched and found nothing... and sometimes I even gave up searching. But just as I would give up, I'd find just one tiny flake of shining hope and I'd gather the courage to start searching again. 

     Most of my nuggets have come in the form of life's experiences, coupled with humility and faith in God. There have been rough times where I have found myself wading, chin deep, up-stream, and wanting to give up and just float away... but God knew better... he knew my strength; he knew what I needed to experience, in order to help me become who he knew I could be. 

     Sometimes my golden nuggets have come to me through the scriptures, sometimes through other books I've read, sometimes through the words of others or through service. Mostly, my golden nuggets have come through humility, forgiveness, and acceptance of God's will in my life.

     There have been a few times in my life where I have been left destitute; those were the times I had turned my back on God. Those were the darkest times in my life. Times when I really did give up and float downstream... Times when I lost all hope and stopped searching for gold.

     Does that mean there was no gold to be found? Not at all! It's always there, just waiting to be found. Shimmering, shining, nuggets of inspiration, love, knowledge, wisdom, hope, faith and joy!

I just had to keep my head above water and keep paddling! That's all anyone can do. Just keep going when the water gets rough. Don't give up! Eventually you will come to a place where you can touch the bottom again and you will find your footing, and you will haul yourself to the water’s edge where you can rest a while. 

     But don't stop there! Because when you open your eyes again you will see life in a whole new light and the gold you couldn't see before will be gleaming all around you! Riches for the taking! Life to be had! Love to be shared. So figure out what you are searching for and go out there and find it! 

     Oh, and the only way to keep those golden nuggets, once you've found them, is by sharing them with someone else. :)