Secret Wealth

If we have some hidden wealth, why don’t we cash it in and put it to good use? Even if we don’t need it ourselves, we probably know someone who could benefit from it. People are slipping beneath the waves every day who don’t bob back up and I would like to lend them a hand. But I don’t seem to do much outside of my own small circle.

I feel willing to help but somehow don’t act. I read about the “wealth” buried in my inner being that I could access simply by following the understanding of my own heart. But I keep walking the same path that I’ve tread so many times before.

Is this shared resource hidden because we don’t value it enough? Is it in plain sight and inaccessible only because we don’t care enough to look?

The wealth managed by brokers and bankers doesn’t seem of much value when we ask what makes us truly happy. We may have stumbled into this life, by accident or divine providence we scarcely know, and not know what to do with it; but we do know we don’t want to be on our death bed and realize that we “threw away a pearl of great value”.

I still wonder why I think anything of great value is likely to be hidden? An I treating my experiences in this world as place holders for disappointment? Am I afraid that getting what I want will leave me empty when it leaves? Sensing the bankruptcy that may await my hopes and dreams, am I holding out for something more fulfilling, even though I don’t seem able to keep anything for long at the center of my life?

A hope persists that this life could provide a treasure that is abiding in a different realm than “conspicuous consumption” or material riches; and that this hidden realm provides such comfort and ease that I would finally learn to be grateful for all the little things this life keeps giving me.

Like a flower ready to bloom, biding its time until the moment is right, this hidden treasure is what joins me with everything around me. It is a well-kept secret only until it bursts forth into the symphony of life. When we realize that this welcoming place of being has been waiting all along for us to step forth and receive it, we may well wonder why we have been standing alone at the water’s edge.

I’d like to learn from Nature, where patience isn’t a virtue because it isn’t needed. Spring is far too busy being spring to be impatient for the arrival of summer or autumn. Each season shows up without fail in its own time.

But we have grown so used to hiding our wealth under a basket woven of discouragement and fear that we often don’t notice the breeze inviting us to step forth through the doorway of our heart into our greater home.