I remember as a young teenager saying the famous quote, “You can’t judge a book by its cover.” However true or untrue that statement may be, we do not hesitate in saying it. I remember reading a story about the gods of a far eastern religion, They were trying to decide what to do with the divine spirit. Fearful that man would find and abuse it. One of the gods suggested that they hide it in the deepest sea. Another said, No! Man will eventually develop a way to dive down deep and find it. Another said let’s put it on the highest mountaintop where man will never find it. No! Another said man will learn to climb the highest mountains and he will find it. Finally, the head god said, “Let us put it deep inside of man himself for he will never think to look there.” That’s what they all agreed to do and every man has hidden deep inside of him god’s divine spirit and though there are men who have found it, the majority have not. Every man has within him that divine spirit hidden inside him and It is possible for those who have found it to help others find theirs.
There is another great story about man’s value titled, ‘Clay Balls’ that goes as follows:
“A man was exploring 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 clay balls 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, he would throw 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 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 a fortune in treasure he could have taken home most was thrown 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 tend to 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 by God. There is a treasure in each and every one of us. If we take the time to get to know that person, and if we ask God to show us that person, the way He sees them, then the clay begins to peel away and his 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 unattractive clay.
“May we see the people in our world as God sees them.”
—Author Unknown
We all start out in life with the light of Christ and that means that we were all born compassionate and good. The way we live our lives and with whom, may modify that light and if our lives are directed primarily by being around cruel and/or unsavoriness we are subject to having that initial light grow dim or even being extinguished. Every person we meet has the right for us to assume the very best about them and bring them into our lives as friends and fellow travelers here on earth. “Assume the best and leave the rest” is what President Gordon B. Hinckley used to advise. Possibly somewhere along the way a few will disappoint us but based on my life time of mingling with balls of clay, very few failed to be the gems I assumed them to be. God bless us all to seek the divine and the gems as we walk about and among God’s children every day.