Buried Treasures
I typically spend the week after Christmas focused on the upcoming year. I think about strategies for my life for the next season. However, subconsciously, without even realizing it, the planning for the next year has come to my mind early. I am already beginning to map out the next season, putting 2020 to rest. Mentally, I am checked out of ’20, on to ’21.
A few days ago, I spent some time reflecting on the year. I recognized some gifts, areas of thankfulness, that occurred in 2020. After I was finished reviewing the year, I honestly made the statement that this could have been one of the most amazing years in our family’s lives. As I went through each of my kid’s lives, our family’s life, we all realized what had transpired in 2020. An overwhelmingly negative year had suddenly turned positive for all of us. I call these buried treasures.
Reflection helps you identify these buried treasures. If we don’t take the time to uncover the gift, call it out, appreciate it, no one else well. As we do in life, we’ll quickly move on to the next season, never recognizing the blessing. So, I encourage you to stop, reflect, and share with those closest to you. Otherwise, the treasure will remain six feet under, taken for granted.
Maybe you read this, and you really can’t identify any of those buried treasures in 2020. No matter how hard you look, nothing rises to the surface. You look around, and the soil is rocky. You have nothing to claim for thankfulness. I have been there. In fact, we all will be there at some point.
The bible talks about a buried treasure in Matthew 13:44.
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
In this verse, we are told of the only sustainable treasure that is worth it all. The perpetual gift. The never-ending buried treasure that brings peace. The anchor that sustains when suffering abounds.
On the journey of life there will always be joy and pain. I can’t write about any thankfulness that I feel without recognizing the suffering of some in my life. And, the harsh reality is that I can’t take it away. I can only love and point to the one that can. The one that has the key to the ultimate buried treasure. The anchor that holds when praises are at the tip of our tongue and sustains when thankfulness is evasive.
So, recognize buried treasures in your life today. Praise God for the season. But do so walking with those going through suffering, praying and pointing to the only anchor that holds. We’ll all have both of these seasons at some point in our lives.
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