setup: [E-Mail Ministry] Always Look On The Inside

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ALWAYS LOOK ON THE INSIDE

I remember reading a story once about a man who was exploring some 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 up some clay 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, to pass the time, he would throw the clay
balls one at a time out into the ocean as far as he could throw.

He thought little about it until he dropped one of the 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 had tens of thousands, but
he just threw it all away.

You know sometimes, 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 hidden in every one of us. We are wonderfully
made. Not just our physical bodies, our spiritual selves, which are
sometimes hidden from others by the *earthen vessel*

But if you take the time to get to know that person, and if you ask the
Spirit to show you that person the way He sees them, then the clay begins to
peel away and the brilliant gem begins to shine forth.

The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile,
nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to
one when he discovers that someone else believes in him and is willing to
trust him with his friendship.

-- Author Unknown

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