Hidden Treasures

     Imagine walking along the seashore for the first time feeling free and full of wonder.  You are just discovering life and all of it many splendors.  You stop every now and then to pick up the many beautiful and unique shells that catch your eye.  You gather them all up and you continue to walk down the seashore and enjoy the beauty of life and it's nature.  As you walk along you drop some of your sea shells, even some you thought were the most beautiful ones.  But they are gone now and you continue on your awe-inspiring journey.  There are some seashells that ,no matter what, still remain in your hand, sturdy and secure.  You begin to become more aware of the beauty around you and you get more and more excited as you begin to run and skip and jump. You feel so free, so beautiful, so alive!

     Then suddenly without warning you are struck by a massive wave that you didn't see coming.  You are now drenched, shocked, even heart-broken as you lose many of your most precious shells.  You begin to cry, you didnt know that this beautiful place had any chance of hurting you.  You now suddenly realize that you need to be careful, careful of the unknown, the unseen, the real-world. You stop crying and squeeze the seashells in your hand hoping that some of them have remained.

     You go home a little more aware.  A little more cautious of the unknown.  You want to remember the beauty of the seashore so you find a box and you safely put the remaining shells inside. Some of the shells are small, some medium, some large.  Some of them are dirty and some shiny clean.  You just leave them as you found them and you gently place them in the box and tuck them away, way up in a far away shelf. You close the door and you go on with life.

     Every once in a while you glance at the box and remember how beautiful that walk along the seashore once was, but along with this memory is a harsh painful one as well, so you look away from the box of seashells and you close the door. 

     After a while you become more secure, more adjusted to this new reality of life.  So, you finally take down the box from time to time and reminise of that once beautiful, awe -inspiring time in your life when you were full of wonder and freedom.  Freedom from the real world, freedom of any hurt or pain.  Free to love, free to give, free to take it all in. Many of the shells are now stuck to the bottom of the box and you are able to pry them up.  Some of them have now crumbled, and  there are a few, a very few, which are hidden in the corners of the box and no matter how hard you try you can not seem to free them from that space...so you move on to the others that are easier to remove. You are pleasantly surprised to find some of your favorite ones that you thought were lost are still there.  With new understanding, you can once again enjoy those beautiful shells which now, you can barely remember what caught your eye about them, as you see life so much more differently then you did back then. You still feel a twinge of the pain that went along with them but it is dulling now. You enjoy them for a bit. Then suddenly you remember all that you have waiting for you now, in the present, to take care of, all of your grown-up responsibilities, and you must put the box back upon the shelf, close the door and take care of more pressing needs.

     Finally,  those many busy days, when you had so much to do, are slowing down now.  You sit and think about those shells again, and that day on the seashore and you suddenly long for the meaning and purpose of what once was everything to you.  So, you reach for the box of seashells once again.  You take it down and begin to study it in a much different way.  You are more curious now, more aware of so many things.  You take each shell out and examine it one by one.  And suddenly you see things you never noticed about them before.  You not only see their beauty, but you also see the details about them that made them special to you.  In addition you see the many rough places that before were invisible to you.  Still you can appreciate each and every one of them and you smile...

     After you have picked up each shell and examined it carefully, you have new understanding and a new appreciation for each and every one.  With eagerness, you reach for one that is stuck in the corner of the box.  You have tried so many times to pry it loose but it just wont come.  You look at it and realize that it was one of those plain ones, nothing really special about it, "why did you pick it?", you dont remember.  You almost leave it, but curiosity gets the better of you and you try one more time and finally it comes loose.  It is free!  Free for you to examine it.  You realize that it is much bigger than you once thought it was.  And it takes a while to clean it off so you can get a good look at it.  After a good time spent on cleaning and shining it, you lift it up to the light and you realize that it is a diamond.  Yes, it is a beautiful diamond!  You are in awe. A million questions run thru your head.  Did you know it was a diamond when you first picked it up?  What was it that made you pick that one?  Why did it get stuck in the corner of the box?  Why didn't you appreciate it more when you first found it?  Finally, with tender care, you take it with you as you search to find a special place for it so that you can enjoy it, love it, and appreciate it the way it deserves to be appreicated.

As you sit back to enjoy it you suddenly realize that you have had this all along ...."A Hidden Treasure!"....and you smile, your heart is happy... and you only remember that beautiful day that you walked along the seashore, full of life, hope, love and wondering awe...and you are free again!

~Lisa