The stained and worn burlap sack caught my eye. Tucked into a cracked and rusty galvanized bucket filled with old pipe fittings, assorted electrical parts, and other random odds and ends, the texture seemed strangely out of place. Pulling the bag gently from its resting place, I smiled to see a weathered “Marble King” logo on the side. Glancing across the table, I held up the bag and casually asked, “How much?”
The elderly farmer hosting the barn sale looked up from his paper, peered over the top of his glasses, and replied, “How ‘bout two bucks?”
Sold!
I happily handed over two bills and headed home with my treasure. Since my late father was a lifelong marble player and collector, old marbles now hold special significance to me.
Arriving home, I gingerly opened the sack, careful not to tear the fragile burlap. My eyes lit once again as I drew out treasure after treasure: agates, clays, stones, and “steelies” mixed with a more typical array of cat’s eyes, swirls, and uranium glow-in-the dark marbles. As I cleaned and polished each marble, I even discovered a handful of single-pontil, end-of-day, and end-of-cane marbles. (Non-marble-loving readers can Google them. They’re beautiful!)
Treasure indeed.
I sighed contentedly as I retrieved the last marble from the sack. “What a great find,” I thought. As I dropped the now empty sack onto my desk, I heard a faint metallic clink. Peering inside, I saw several small items resting at the bottom. Gently, I shook them out: a tarnished set of cufflinks, a bent and twisted pendant, and another, smaller object.
A bit of polishing and the cufflinks took on the beautiful glow of old gold. Set with sapphires, they were designed by a well-known New York jeweler during the Art Deco period. The pendant, though damaged, was also pure gold. But the “other” object was the real treasure. A diamond! Flawless, colorless, brilliant, and nearly a full carat cut into the antique European style. Perfect timing for an upcoming anniversary!
As I thought about that beautiful stone hidden among dusty marbles, I couldn’t help but wonder how many decades it remained hidden. I recalled the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus urged His followers not to hide their faith but rather to let their lives shine, sparkling and shining as light to a dark, desperate world, a city on a hill that cannot be hid (Matthew 5:12-16).
Hidden faith is like a diamond in a bag of old marbles: out of place and completely useless. Our faith is a treasure the lost world needs. May we never hide our treasure from those searching for it.
About the Columnist:Eric K. Thomsen is managing editor of ONE Magazine.
