Clay Balls
Vintage Dilbert
January 13, 2000
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 thousands of dollars in treasure, he could have taken home tens of thousands, but he just threw it 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 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 the 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 clay.
May we see the people in our world as God sees them.
Author Unknown - Comment if you know the author so credit can be given
Morning Story and Dilbert 
Amen, Kenny T! Great post. Thanks for sharing. 🙂 Dave
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Interesting and quite true. Even the lowest of the low have something in them that can be great. I taught for forty years and some of those students who I thought could not make it became something and some I had high hopes for also did well. We all blossom at different times. We all have hidden talents. It just takes time.
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Reblogged this on Tea and Trivia and commented:
Best read while sipping a line cup of oolong.
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Reblogged this on declaringhispower.
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that is a beautiful story. I love it that those clay balls are like so many of us…we are beautiful and thoughtful on the inside but no one sees it until they really try.
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Great post! I have found some of the most interesting and beautiful people in those who others often overlook.
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Some of the best wisdom there is! Have a great week! – Amy 😀
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Reblogged this on A Christian Warrior and commented:
A wonderful thought and so very true, Father help me to see the treasure inside the clay
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Reblogged this on Amanda Trought – Creative Writing Blog and commented:
This is a great story of how we can overlook the treasure within for the external package.
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Reblogged this on God's group.
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Reblogged this on New Life and commented:
Check out this great inspirational story from “Morning Story and Dilbert.”
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Reblogged this on Healthy Wealthy & Wise and commented:
A short story with a depth of wisdom.
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Reblogged this on Bloor Lansdowne Christian Fellowship and commented:
Interesting re-BLOG of a story the of how we sometimes value those whom we meet,
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Wonderful illustration that I willl use in my counseling office. Thanks.
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