Finding Treasures Within - a message about the upcoming year

Where do you find treasures? I am a person who likes to go to auctions and garage sales to look for treasures. On occasion, those treasures will be something I’ve been looking for and other times the treasures will be found in something that is being sold for “next to nothing” and I know it is worth something more. I will go to these venues and look through boxes simply looking for the treasure within. There are probably many of you who are sharing in this search to find those treasures and then there are those of you who are like my wife that want to leave as soon as they don’t see anything worthwhile.

Over the Christmas holiday, I was at my in-law’s house and my father-in-law liked to watch “Storage Wars” on A&E channel. The basic principle of this show is that people will go to abandoned storage units and bid on all the contents in the unit. The storage units are of different size, so there will be different amounts of content in each unit. Also, the participants will have five minutes to look at the unit, without going in or touching any of the content, before the bidding starts.

The bidding ranges from three to four figure prices. Once the person wins the bid, then they will come back and go through the storage unit. Within this time they are looking for any and all things that they can sell which will bring about a profit.

In some storage units there will be obvious “treasures” in furniture and other large items that cannot be confined to a box. Whereas other times people will not be able to see some of the treasures that are in the boxes and they will have to take their chances. Some units will have junk and others will have some great treasures within.

One of the keys to the show is to be bold enough to look within because just looking on the surface is not going to give you the look they need. They must be able to step past the opening and go through all the seen and unseen content that is located within the storage unit. Some are brave enough and some are not. Some will not have the money to compete with others who are bidding on the same unit. Unfortunately, some who may feel the unit is not worth much will “bid up” the unit just to make others pay more.

As we enter into 2013 what treasures are you going to be able to find? At the time of the publication, we do not know what 2013 will hold. As we have not entered into the year it is totally unknown what it will bring for us, individually. We may not know what 2013 will hold but we may also not know what we can bring to 2013. Part of the reason we do not know what we can bring to 2013 is that we have not looked within ourselves to find the treasures.

For some, it is because you have become set in what you have done in life and cannot see the potential that is still within. When you stay where you are, you are guaranteed to not go anywhere. Though that may come across humorously logical, there is much truth to it. If you want to make a difference in someone’s life, you must be involved in someone’s life. If you stay out of their business then you are definitely not going to make any difference in that person’s life.

There have been times in my life that I thought I was quite comfortable where I had come. However, a time came when I wanted to look for what God will bring about each day. I look forward to how I might be able to make a difference or be used by God in each day and with each interaction I have with people. This makes me look forward to so many more things in life. I dread less things and look forward more of what life brings me.

I want to challenge you to stand back as you enter into 2013 and look within yourself to find the treasures that you may not see on the outside. What is it about you that can bring something great to your family, your job, or your community? Don’t let the year slip by without looking for the treasures!