Acres of Diamonds

A century ago, Russell Conwell traveled the United States with a speech he called, “Acres of Diamonds.” He told of a young man who studied at Yale to become a mining engineer. Upon graduation, “gold fever” struck him and he set off to California to seek his fortune.

Yale had offered him a position as an instructor, which he turned down. He persuaded his mother to sell their Massachusetts farm and accompany him. But the trip was futile as he found no gold and eventually accepted a job in Minnesota working for a mining company – at a lower salary than he would have received at Yale.

More interesting is that the man who bought the family farm from the widowed mother was harvesting potatoes one day. As he slid a heavy bushel through an opening in the stone wall, he noticed a shiny stone. He had it assayed and learned it was native silver. The farm was sitting on a fortune in silver!

Why had the mining engineer, who had undoubtedly passed by that same rock and others like it hundreds of times, not discovered the ore? Could it be that he never dreamed a treasure could be found so easily? Was it because he believed that one must go elsewhere to fulfill a dream?

What we are seeking may be found right where we are! There are certainly times to make life changes, but sometimes we must simply change our thinking. What you seek (happiness, security, fulfillment, challenge) may be at your fingertips, though yet unseen.

There may be hidden potential in your present job, your current relationships or the location in which you live. The answers to your dreams may be found at your fingertips if you only believe it is possible. Before making that big life change, look carefully around. You may be sitting on acres of diamonds!

>From ONE MINUTE CAN CHANGE A LIFE, by Steve Goodier

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Interview with God

I dreamed I had an interview with God.

“Come in,” God said. “So, you would like to interview Me?”

“If you have the time,” I said.

God smiled and said: “My time is eternity and >is enough to do everything; what questions do you have in mind to ask me?”

“What surprises you most about mankind?”

God answered: “That they get bored of being children, are in a rush to grow up, and then long to be children again. That they lose their health to make money and then lose their money to restore their health. That by thinking anxiously about the future, they forget the present, such that they live neither for the present nor the future. That they live as if they will never die, and they die as if they had never lived…”

God’s hands took mine and we were silent for a while and then I asked…”As a parent, what are some of life’s lessons you want your children to learn?”

God replied with a smile: “To learn that they cannot make anyone love them. What they can do is to let themselves be loved. To learn that what is most valuable is not what they have in their lives, but whom they have in their lives. To learn that it is not good to compare themselves to others. All will be judged individually on their own merits, not as a group on a comparison basis! To learn that a rich person is not the one who has the most, but is one who needs the least. To learn that it only takes a few seconds to open profound wounds in persons we love, and that it takes many years to heal them. To learn to forgive by practicing forgiveness. To learn that there are persons that love them dearly, but simply do not know how to express or show their feelings. To learn that money can buy everything but happiness. To learn that two people can look at the same thing and see it totally differently. To learn that a true friend is someone who knows everything about them. . .and likes them anyway. To learn that it is not always enough that they be forgiven by others, but that they have to forgive themselves.”

I sat there for awhile enjoying the moment. I thanked Him for his time and for all that He has done for me and my family, and He replied,

“Anytime. I’m here 24 hours a day. All you have to do is ask for me, and I’ll answer.”

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