Hidden Treasures

(Newest treasure: Gail Pittman storage tin)

Do any of you like treasure hunts? Finding hidden treasures? I do! It may be in a corner of my closet or up in the attic that I find something I had stored and forgotten about. Or it could be something I come across at a yard sale or thrift store. Yesterday I found one of those little "hidden treasures" at our local Salvation Army Thrift Store.

I had taken several things to donate to the thrift store yesterday so took that in the back door. Had a little extra time...which I usually don't...and decided to go in the front and look around. I found several "treasures": the movie "Gone With the Wind", a next-to-new pair of tiny white leather baby tennis shoes (which I will give to a friend or someone at Sav-A-Life) and a metal tin by Mississippi artist Gail Pittman. I spent a whopping sum of $3 and a few cents! These things someone else didn't want in their homes anymore just made my day!

I was thinking about some of the "hidden treasures" I have found in people that have come into my life. Once a week my husband and I visit the church van route. (He drives the van on Sundays) We just go by and knock on their doors and remind them that the van will be around early Sunday morning. If they're not home, we leave a flier telling what will be going on at church that week. (This weekend we'll be having a cookout after the morning service to celebrate the 4th of July)

Some of our families live in some pretty bad conditions. Some because of poverty. Some because of sin. Some have stable family lives. Some are bounced from "pillar to post" every week. Some of the families we have gotten to know well. Some have stayed strangers...of their own choice.

But all these precious people are treasures. They are hidden to many because lots of folks don't want to go inside a house trailer to visit when there are hundreds of roaches crawling on the doors, the floors, and the furniture. Or because sometimes the smell of the open garbage can beside the front door is so bad it makes you gag. Or because the baby who comes to the door with their mama has a runny nose and matted eyes and a very smelly diaper. So many things that keep these treasures hidden.

I have to admit that it's even sometimes hard for me. But God has given us so many glimpses into the lives of these "treasures" of His. He died for these people. They need to know that! We try to tell them. Some of them have learned to trust Him. Some of them already know Him. We've had several adult ladies start riding the van faithfully in the last couple of months. One of these ladies and her husband are raising about eight of their grandchildren! She has been such a blessing as we visit in her home each week.

I thought about Jesus as he "must needs go through Samaria" and how he witnessed to the woman at the well there. She was not living right. But she didn't know Jesus. There are so many people who are just like her. Will we be like Jesus' disciples who "marvelled that he talked with the woman" or will we be like Jesus and purposely reach out to those who others sometimes ignore? I hope that we can search out "hidden treasures" all around us so that we can tell them about Jesus...the One Who can give them all they've ever needed and more! As Jesus said to the woman at the well..."But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. " (John 4: 14)

Happy Treasure Hunting!

Marilyn

~Note~ I do not mean to imply that every one of our families live in horrid conditions. Some of the homes are very well kept and clean. Just wanted to clear that up!