I will admit up front that I don't know if this story is true or not. I do know that parts of it are based in fact.
It was the turn of the last century. A man owned a plot of land in rural Arkansas. (That's kind of redundant, all of Arkansas was rural in 1900.) The farmer tried to scratch out a living from the fields, but they proved to be too rocky. After a few years of just barely getting by, he decided to sell the farm. This proved to be equally difficult. Oh, plenty of people were interested until they saw the rocky fields. No one in their right mind would try to farm on that. Then one day a geologist from back east stopped by. He took one look at the rock covered fields and made an offer, a very generous offer, on the spot. You see, those rocks were actually diamonds. It simply took someone with the proper perspective to see what was always there.
Many people live their lives like those rocks. They spend all of their time being kicked around and trampled under other's feet. They are seen as dirty, ugly nuisances. Not only not good for anything but actually in the way of anything productive. Unfortunately many never learn the truth about themselves. All it takes is the one with the proper perspective. All it takes is for Jesus to pick them up and clean off the stuff of the world that has accumulated on them to expose the diamond that is underneath.
When we look at ourselves, we need to see what Jesus sees. We need to see the diamonds, not the rocks. All of us are made in the image of God. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. We are God's workmanship. All of the rest of creation was spoken into existence but we were handcrafted. Each of us was designed and crafted for a purpose and it is God's desire for us to live out that purpose. All of us are beautiful diamonds, it only takes the hand of God to expose them.
