The Lost Treasure Returns...A TRUE STORY

Many years ago I had the pleasure of teaching a
young woman who was one of the most gifted high school seniors
I have ever met. Not only was she brilliant in Math and
Science, but she was also extremely talented in the visual
arts. She could draw and paint beautifully. When Audrey
graduated from university she did so with two degrees, one in
fine arts and one in biochemistry. Not too many people shine
brilliantly in two such different areas of study. She was
gifted.

Just before her highschool graduation Audrey presented
me with a wonderful gift. It was a water colour painting of a
mother and her infant. A tear fell from the mother’s eye as
she looked lovingly at her precious child. Beneath the
painting Audrey had written these words: “The love of God
becomes real when, through me, it touches another.” What a
beautiful gift from such a sensitive, talented woman. I
immediately had the piece of art framed and hung in my office.

Years passed with many moves from one office to
another. Somewhere in the process of changing locations I lost
the painting of the mother and child. I had no idea how I lost
it or where it was and had given up hope of ever seeing it
again.

A couple of years ago after about eight years of not
knowing where my treasured painting was, I received a phone
call from a former colleague who said she had something of
mine she thought I would like returned. It was the picture
Audrey had painted for me years earlier. In cleaning out a
storage room she had discovered my gift. I promise I won’t
lose it a second time

When I reflect on what happened to my painting I am
struck by how precious gifts, when lost, have a way of finding
their way back to the people who treasure them the most. To
any other the painting was just that, a painting. To me it
spoke of a creative, intelligent, generous woman who gave her
talent to me in appreciation for our paths crossing and
connecting. Because of this obvious connection it found its
way home to me. I have discovered this to be true of people as
well. When you really love another, and you appear to lose
them, they tend to find their way back to your love even if it
takes years to do so. So we live in hope

I haven’t heard from Audrey in many years, but I know
that she will come back into my life in some way. We will meet again.

Mike Moore is a speaker and writer on human potential,
motivation and humour. You are invited to visit him online at
www.motivationalplus.com