When Wesley
Carrington took his newly purchased metal detector into a field near his home
in Hertfordshire, England, he had no expectations of finding anything. He had never used a metal detector before and
the one he purchased from the local hardware store was the cheapest one they
carried. After coming across a spoon and
a half penny, Carrington found a gold coloured coin that had a Roman figure on
it. Digging a little deeper, he discovered
158 ancient Roman “Solidus” coins worth approximately $156 000.
In April of
2010, Dave Crisp was searching in a field near Somerset, England when his metal
detector went off. Digging down fourteen
inches, he found a coin and then the top of a ceramic pot. The pot contained 52,503 bronze and silver coins
dating from AD 253 to 305. This coin
hoard has estimated worth of over $582 000.
Some may
read those stories and think that those guys are really lucky and that is certainly
true. In fact, Carrington reports that
since that first day out he has not found anything. While “beginner’s luck” is part of the story,
I want to suggest another reason why these two men found these coins: They were looking!
In other
words, had they just sat at home and watched TV none of this would have
happened. Had they not bought metal
detectors and actually used them, there would not be a story. Had they ignored the beeping and said, “I am
not digging here. It is likely nothing”
they would have passed over something amazing.
The same
thing can be said of us. If we just
float along, we will likely miss most of our blessings. However, if we actively seek out good things,
then we will undoubtedly find them.
Seeing one small blessing, will lead us to notice more and suddenly we
will have a long list of things for which to be thankful.
Jesus once
said that he desired worshippers who worshipped “In spirit and in truth” (John
4:23-24). While that phrase can be
interpreted several different ways, one way of understanding it is that God wants
people who have a “spirit of true worship”.
He wants people who have trained themselves to see their world
differently, so that they find God’s presence and God’s joy in ordinary things. He wants people who see life in such a way
that they “Rejoice in the Lord always” (Philippians 4:4). All it takes is a little focus.
We will find
our blessings as soon as we decide to start looking.
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