The first sentence of Rev. Tilden's Lenten meditation illuminates what has become for me a central religious tenet. Our greatest treasures do lie within yet we trust not and instead continue to look outward. The season of Lent calls on all of us to take that time to look within and then trust..."THE HIDDEN TREASURE "(Scripture Reading)
"ANOTHER parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field:
Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:
Who, when he found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.
. . . And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence.
And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty
works?
Matt. xiil.
"THE most precious treasure we know, the treasures of the kingdom of heaven within the soul, are hid in the field of our every-day experience. They are hid as the sap is hid in the tree, as Love is hid in the heart, as the soul is hid in the body. If we could only see the hope often hid in our fear, the strength hid in our weakness, the good hid in things we call evil, and see these close around our feet, we should not waste our time searching in fields not our own. The treasures of faith and hope may be found quite as often hid in the dry sands of poverty and the cold caves of adversity, as in the warm soil sunned by prosperity. The greatest being ever clothed in humanity was so poor he had not where to lay his head. Stand in thy lot, close by his side, and learn from his truth that the soul may grow rich in treasures immortal. You do not see them ; God himself has hid them there, right where you stand.
"Stand in thy lot" and may our souls "grow rich in treasures immortal!" Blessings
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