Can you be a clue?
In the movie “National Treasure,” the character played by Nicholas Cage had spent his adult life seeking a fabulous, secret treasure. Early on, he discovers an important clue about the location of the treasure, hidden in a beautiful carved pipe hidden in the hold of a long-lost ship. Most of the rest of the movie revolves around his constant search to follow one clue, which leads to another clue to another clue – until finally the treasure is revealed. And no other order of events would have worked.
If he skipped any step, the treasure would never have been found. If he went out of order, somehow stumbling across certain clues before the proper time, he would have been hopelessly lost. Instead, step by step, in the proper order, in the proper time, the key was found, the treasure was won.
Consider people like prophet Jeremiah and Apostle Paul. Each stood at their points of time and became living clues to a living treasure. Those clues were and are ready to be followed by any eager seeker of this treasure. And the treasure was – and can be again and again – won.
Like Jeremiah, like Paul – to whatever degree – can the rest of us serve as clues to that treasure? There are plenty of people who are lost, desperately seeking that one piece of information, that one remark, that one example of behavior. Am I necessarily the clue that unlocks the treasure? Maybe. Or maybe I’m the clue that sends the person to you, and you keep the sequence going. Next time, maybe it’s reversed, because best of all, unlike the movie, we’re not the clues for just one person, but potentially for anyone we encounter any place.
This blog is designed as a series of clues to that living treasure, especially for those whose lives have been impacted by stroke. So the next time someone asks about your faith, or simply is in need of an act of kindness or friendliness – can you be a clue?
