The Joy of Finding
My childhood home had a huge bay window off of the dining room. It was so large that it might just have qualified as a very small three-season room. It had a built-in bench seat along all three walls and was a great place for an afternoon snooze. Structurally speaking, it was attached to the house but was not part of the foundation. So, that left a fairly open space underneath, as you might find under a porch. When my brother and I were in early elementary school, we liked to crawl underneath and dig around in the dirt. We had very active imaginations and often played “coal miner” (yes, we grew up in coal country)
or “treasure hunter.” We never found anything remotely interesting, but that didn’t keep us from digging and dreaming that we would find something someday.
Then, one day, we found something! … A very old beer bottle.
It was a bottle from the Anchor Brewing Company in Brackenridge, PA (opened: 1897-closed 1920 due to prohibition). We had no real idea of its value or lack thereof, but we thought it was amazing! And yes, it was empty. The funny thing is that some 26 years later, I can still remember how excited we were to find something that we thought was a treasure! Yes, it was an old bottle. And, if you find things like that interesting, it would have been your cup of tea. But, it had little to no real value. The lasting value came in the act of finding.
Jesus understood the power of finding something of great value. The surprise, shock, awe, and immense joy that comes with it. And he compared the Kingdom of Heaven to finding something of great value. So great that those who find it would gladly exchange anything else that they have for it. Why? Because it is like nothing else, and it satisfies like nothing else.
Have you ever found something of such great value that you would trade just about anything you had to keep it? What does your heart feel when you remember the experience of finding that thing?
Maybe, the question is, do you consider your eternal life and citizenship in the Kingdom of Heaven as something of extraordinary value? Does it bring you joy, deep joy, substantial joy when you think about finding the Kingdom of Heaven?
The most extraordinary object I have ever found was an old beer bottle from a long-closed brewery in the next borough over.
If I’m not careful or intentional, I can begin to treat the Kingdom of Heaven like that old bottle. Interesting but not really remarkable or life-changing. Yet, finding the Kingdom of Heaven is the most valuable thing we could ever find. And, when we live within its walls, we find that it offers substantial joy. So that is something worth finding.