Detecting

 

I met a man walking along the beach.  

He was slowly swinging his metal detector back and forth, back and forth as he listened for the signal that something metallic had been found.

I sometimes get a whim that seems to become of great importance and a couple weeks ago getting a metal detector was just that whim.  

I let my practicality and budget win that mental argument and didn't purchase one.  But it made me doubly and excited to see this gentleman with his gear.  

When I passed him, he smiled and said good morning.  I smiled back and asked if he had found anything. 

A handful of loose change was his bounty for the morning.

"What's the best thing you've ever found?"

Back in Pennsylvania where he lives near Harrisburg, he found an antique gold chain on his brother's newly purchased property.  

He hasn't found any coins older than 1912.  

"But", he quipped with a smile, "worst case scenario I get some exercise and find a sunrise like that, you know what I mean?"

Looking up at the sun's reflection sparkling on the wet sand, I nodded in agreement.

When we are hyper-focused on only one possible preferred outcome, how often do we miss out on all of the blessings around us? 

D&C 78:19 "And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more".

Maybe we don't find the gold coins buried in the sand, but perhaps the treasure is actually lying openly all around us, buried only by the cynical blinders we choose to wear.  

And maybe I need a blessing detector a bit more than a metal detector.