Being Thankful.....For The Gold In This Life

 11-24-2022

Being Thankful.....For The Gold In This Life

LizSekerke

When I was a kid, our family would load up Mom’s Buick, leave Texas at 3:00 am and head east....east to central Alabama....to Grandma-In-The-Woods’ house.

Grandma and Grandpa Calloway were known around their area of Alabama as the couple that owned a gold mine on their 200 acre property. By “gold mine”, I mean a creek...Blue Creek to be exact....that had a gold vein running through it. Each day, except Saturday, they would drive down to the creek in the middle of nowhere, grab their stainless steel pans and pan for gold. In the summers, my siblings, cousins and myself would join them at Blue Creek. They would hand us our very own pan and we would start sifting and “looking” for nuggets of gold.

Grandma and Grandpa Calloway never got rich panning for gold, but they did learn how to “see” the gold when the dirt had been sifted through their pans and that tiny nugget was left sitting on the bottom. They would take it in their fingers, hold it up to the light and smile. It was in the “looking” that they saw the gold. 

 

As I read my morning devotional in Jesus Calling the other day, it reminded me of those summers we spent in Alabama. For my siblings and cousins, it was like Disneyland being at the creek. But for Liz, it was pure torture. I was afraid of everything. Too many crickets, snakes, sharp rocks, and the water was too cold, and I failed to “see” the nuggets of “gold” that were hidden in that creek.

Jesus Calling, November 23: “As you go through this day, look for tiny treasures strategically placed along the way. I lovingly go before you, Liz, and plant little pleasures to brighten your day. Look carefully for them, and pluck them one by one.” 

 

There was so much more at Blue Creek than nuggets of gold. There were the tallest pine trees I’d ever seen....Indian arrowheads....swimming holes and grandparents spending time with their grandkids. Priceless gold.

And we’re reminded that God strategically places on each of our paths, day after day, “His” nuggets of gold He promised us. But there is a catch: It requires us to “sift” through the dirt of our day to find the nugget of gold at the bottom. 

 

Happy Thanksgiving Friends.....and keep an eye out for those glistening nuggets of gold He has lovingly placed on your path today. I promise you they are there!!