Finding Our Purpose in Life Part One

It's funny because too often as bloggers, I think we sit for hours and think up ideas for a cool blog post. I often find mine in the midst of a Bible study or a church sermon. That doesn't mean I am not paying attention to the message at hand, simply, I believe, I am receiving divine inspiration, at that particular moment.

I used to think, oh well, I remember that idea later, and then later, I would forget it. I would only remember it was a really great idea. Now I find, when I receive my thoughts for blogs, I capture them any way I can. All it usually is, is a title and the idea forms as I begin to write.

The idea of a geode has been hovering around since I went with my family to Knott's Berry Farm, here in Southern California. We haven't really went anywhere since the economy has been horrible and hubby has been traveling out of state. I personally felt we needed some serious family bonding time. So we found some tickets online that saved us about $13.00 per ticket. Now that's what I call savings.

There are certain things I must have when attending an outing at Knott's Berry Farm. One of these is funnel cakes, with boysenberry filling on the side. Ever since I can remember, we never went to Knott's without funnel cake. It's just something special to get it there. Never mind all the powdered sugar mess.

The second must have, and it can only be found there is Boysenberry Punch. Ice cold, with my own personal cup. P-A-R-A-D-I-S-E!!! Last, you can't go to Knott's without their chicken dinner. Besides the boysenberries, it is what made Knott's famous today and yes, despite the early 1930's, Knott's is still using the same old recipe. Yes, you have to stand in line for over an hour just to get seated, but so worth the wait.

After we all had our chicken dinner, my daughter, Kailee, 10, is studying rocks and minerals in our homeschool class for science. We stopped by this shop in Ghost Town and saw all these really ugly rocks in a bin with tons of prices on them. They started at $10 and went all the way up to $400. Uh, $400.00 for a rock? A ugly rock? Besides the sanity of the $400.00 cost, what do you do with a $400.00 rock?

That's where the beauty comes in. These geodes are made from volcanic bubbles made when volcanoes erupt and become trapped near the cooling of a stream or river. Depending on the mineral content at the time in the water is what cause the crystalization to begin inside the rock. Over time, these vocanic bubbles, get buried by layers of sediment and pressure, and begins the process of what goes on inside. After, billions of years, yeah right, I am no evolutionist, I am a Christian, and after some time, God is the only one who really knows how long, the geodes are found and harvested.

The real treasure is what is on the inside. Kinda like us, right, it's what is on the inside that counts, the outside can be all yucky and covered with years of debris, pain, and whatever life throws at us. Even our faces can show the ravages of what life has handed us, and scare some away. However, if you only take the time to discover what is on the inside, you find a thing of beauty. A treasure!

We waited in anticipation to see what the result would be of our geode find. We decided since my 10 year old had saved her money, she would purchase one of the geodes from Mexico, guaranteed to have a hollow center and large crystal formations. She spent $ 42.00. Yikes, I know a lot of money, but you honestly never know what you'll get.

So the employee of the shop, takes her geode and cuts it in half to reveal the inside. Once it's cut open, she rinses it off and cleans out some of the dirt and debris. Since she is a science teacher herself and works part time at Knott's, because she loves seeing what the money spent on these geodes will reveal. Feeling the climax to our discovery yet?

OK, besides all the other lesser minerals inside, we find out hers is filled with Amethyst crystals! Light purple at first because no air has reached them to oxidize them yet, but will turn a royal purple after about three days. We are then told, our value of the geode is about $130 to $165 depending on who buys them. They are all over eBay! Trust me I checked, after paying the $42.00.

It wasn't so much what we paid for it, it was more the look on the store employee's face and my daughters when they saw all the amethysts inside this palm sized rock. It's beautiful.

It just reminds me, that even though outward appearances can be deceiving to most, those that are willing to invest the time in getting to know us, see the real person for what we are, our soul, I believe. Much like the crystals being hidden inside the geode, the only person who knows what lies beneath the outside, is God and whomever goes seeking! Just think the only other person who knew what was inside that geode, was God! It's amazing to think of it that way!

I hope this post has inspired you to look beyond the superficial of the people we meet and even see in church sometimes. Labels have a tendency of attaching themselves before we get to see the real treasure, often hidden deep inside someone. It's worth the effort to discover what lies beneath! God certainly thinks so and so do I.

Thanks God for my geode lesson and my 3 treasures at Knott's that day! Part Two will follow tomorrow!