The Gold of Adversity

So far, March has been rainy. That is wonderful news, because prior to the last few weeks, Northern California was in the worst drought since the 1970's. But like pretty  much every bad situation, that drought was not without at least one benefit--parched creeks exposed places that have not been dry in a long time. Why is this good? It uncovered what had been hidden: Gold.

Yes, gold. Once again, they're finding gold in California. Maybe not enough for the known world to begin migrating west, as it did 150+ years ago. But enough to ignite fresh enthusiasm for gold hunters. It's also started me thinking: that gold has been there all along, hidden out of sight. All it needed was some large-scale adversity to expose it. Difficulty. Drought. Lack.

Interesting. How many areas in our own lives have hidden pockets of gold--wealth of character, stamina, wisdom, kindness--that we have not known of until adversity comes? And furthermore--it is not the rich areas which are revealing their hidden treasures. It's the weak ones. Picked over. Ones we've written off as hopeless or helpless.

Which has me thinking--what if I looked at the areas in my life that are not so amazing, be they circumstances, relationships, character "flaws"--looked at them not as areas of lack, but with the understanding that somewhere beneath their everyday appearance of emptiness or drought, I might find gold.

Or peacocks.

Peacocks? Yes, random. But sort of related. Because one day this week I went to ride my horse. No gold or unexpected riches there--just horses and hay and everyday. Until I walked around a corner and saw a sight so rare and so exotic as to call to mind king's palaces and the wealth of by-gone days.And so--whether we find gold or peacocks or some other unexpected beauty--I'm wondering what we each would discover if we went looking for those riches in our weaker places...