pebbles and diamonds

​An old legend is told of a group of travelers who were preparing to retire for the night when they were visited by a celestial being. The travelers were told to gather as many pebbles as they could and put them into their saddlebags. "Travel a day's journey, and tomorrow night will find you GLAD, and it will find you SAD."

Although this simple task made little sense, the travelers picked up a few pebbles and put them in their bags. The next evening, they discovered every pebble had turned into a diamond. They were GLAD they had diamonds, but SAD they had picked up so few pebbles.

Every time we come to the house of worship, there is "much treasure." Yet, in the moment, it may only look like a "pebble"—small, insignificant, common, and worth little. Pebbles can be in the form of a song, message, testimony, or verse of Scripture. They are words of truth, advice, direction, and encouragement that might seem unimportant at the time. Like the pebbles in the story, effort must be put forth to pick up these truths and store them in our hearts and minds.
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There will be days when trials and temptations come our way. Depression tries to work, or doubts plague our minds. That is when God brings to our remembrance a testimony, song, message, or godly counsel (a "pebble") from a recent worship service to encourage and strengthen us. It is then, we realize our "pebble" has turned into a "diamond!"

You can be SAD because you failed to gather the "pebbles" when they were available. Or you can be GLAD because you gathered many "pebbles," and now you have "much treasure."