Underground treasures

     

How on earth were these unearthed?

These minerals are mind-bending. With a few hours to spare in D.C., I am walking through the Museum of Natural History, focusing today on the displays of fancy stones. I’m not a rock-hound but have always delighted in finding beauty beneath my feet. I spent a week as a kid gathering what my sister and I thought were agates in Canada, only to later find that we had a bucket-full of smoothed quartz. But my parents kindly let us haul them all the way home.

My minor discoveries cannot rival these. As impressive as these delicate and strange minerals are, I am equally astonished by how they were ever dug up intact.

Some of these feel like they would shatter if you touched them!

People also have hidden gems. Because of our recent move to Virginia, I have a heightened awareness of the challenge of uncovering the more subterranean aspects of others – the stories, values, loves that shape them.

That’s why the simple interactions of Jesus in John 1:

Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter). 1:42

⁴⁷ When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” 1:47

Somehow, Jesus knew at first sight a key quality about each of these men. With a glance, he saw a strength in Peter (an unearthed rock!) and an honesty in Nathanael.

 

For us, the excavation is harder work. I sat with a friend this week. He’s an elderly man from my new small group who is now in hospice. I’ve only known him since this summer, but we’ve had a few conversations about his life and career.

As we sat in his apartment this week, he told me about the remaining task of writing checks, one of which is to go to a children’s choir. He continued to other topics, but I came back to it. “You mentioned a choir,” I said. “Tell me about that. How did you get connected?”

His face lit up. He then enthusiastically regaled me with his involvement in guiding the organization and how much the music came to mean to him. Digging a little, I unearthed a beautiful, delicate example of who he was. I found the hidden gem of his passion.

In all my gathering of quartz, I never found one like this. But the Lord has occasionally given me an inner eye for some startlingly beautiful gems in others. Bringing them into the light isn’t just false flattery. It’s a way we can, as Paul writes, to “encourage one another and build each other up.” (1 Thess. 5:11)

We can celebrate how each of us displays the handiwork of the Spirit.

But it may take some careful digging.

Lord, you fashion over time the traits of your Son in us. That is as startling as any of the gems in this museum. Help us to see that delicate, beautiful work in each other so that we may praise you all the more.

Reader: what gem have you unearthed in another person recently?