The Greatest Treasure There Is

After three long years of teaching his brightest student, the Master comes to the young man's room...

"From the moment I laid my eyes upon you, there was something I wanted desperately to show you... When you see what it is I have waited three years for you to see, you will understand why I had to be sure you were ready to see it... There is nothing in this world that is as precious. There is nothing as important, as finding this hidden treasure for yourself. I can only lead you to it. But if you find what it is I have to show you, your life will never be the same," the Master said mysteriously and pointed the student to his back pack. "Now get ready, because today our journey begins."

With great enthusiasm the student packed his hiking bag. "The greatest treasure there is? Finally, I am going to find what I have been waiting my whole life to find," he said to himself with a smile that could not be hid.

The Master waited for him at the foot of a great mountain with a stern look on his face. "This journey will be hard. There will be ups and downs. There will be joy and great sorrow. There will be mountains to climb and valleys to descend. At times you will want to give up, but if you do, you will never find what it is I have to show you.

"I'm ready," the student says with a twinkle in his eyes. "What can it be?" he wondered as their journey began. "Will it be gold? Will it be diamonds, or rubies? Will it be the fountain of youth, or a potion to cure all ills?"

For two and a half days, these and many other wonderful thoughts flooded the young man's mind.

"I can't wait to see what it will be," the student declared with the same smile that inched toward his ears the day his journey began.

For two and a half days they climbed, they rested and ran. They endured the rain, the cold of night and the heat of the afternoon sun. But with every step the student took, he was hopeful. He knew, every step took him closer to his goal. Whether it was a sluggish step in the mud, or a soft step on the green grass, it was a step toward the greatest treasure there is.

On the third day, at the top of a large mountain, the Master suddenly stopped.

"Where is it? Where is it?" the student screamed and scanned every inch of the mountain top in a panic. "Is it buried? Is this right place? WHERE IS THIS TREASURE?"

The Master bent over and picked up a tiny pebble next to his feet. He held the small rock in his hand. He wiped the dirt covering it away. "Here," the Master said with a smile. "This is what I wanted to show you." He placed the pebble in the students hand and turned his back.

"THIS IS IT?" In anger the student stomped his feet. "You made me hike for three days with only the food we found along the way to eat. You made me hike for three days, with only the water that rained on our head to drink! I was hurt, I got no sleep, I fell, I bled... FOR A PEBBLE? ALL THAT FOR A WORTHLESS PIECE OF ROCK?" The Student threw the pebble as far as he could and tears filled his eyes for the first time in three days.

The Master turned to him with a pitiful look, "For three days you were happier than I have ever seen you. No matter what we endured, you pressed on happily. Every moment brought you joy, because you had hope there was a great point to what you were going through. You had faith... I'm sorry now that you are at the end of your journey that it is not everything you wanted it to be." The Master turned again and began to walk back home.

"WAIT!" the student screamed. "I understand now, I understand!" He jumped to his feet and danced around. "The greatest thing there is to find, is never found at the end of a journey. It is the journey itself that is great. It doesn't matter what is waiting for us at the end, what matters is how we get there to begin with."

The Master smiled, "You are a good student... Now carry an old man back home."

For those that question: The point of this parable is NOT to say, at the end of our lives we are left with a worthless pebble. Our lives are filled with many journeys and sometimes at their end we are disappointed... The point is, every moment of our life should be lived to the fullest. Our days can be filled with great hope and joy, if we have faith there is a point to it all. We may climb many mountains and cross many muddy fields, but we get where we are meant to go and if we're smart, we learn a thing or two... Focus on each moment and consider the possibilities of a life filled with faith. Live each day as if it were your last. Taste your food, stretch, breathe in fresh air, relax, kiss your wife or husband, hug your children and smell their hair, gaze at the stars, roll down a hill of grass and never forget to laugh.

Jacob - (Click on How We Grow)