Treasure

This week of the photo challenge sent me in search of treasure.  In most cases, I didn't have to look far. Truly, I'm no stranger to treasure. 

Some treasures are delicious, yet fleeting.

Well, maybe not so fleeting... as they say, "A moment on the lips, forever on the hips!"  (And in this case, worth every morsel!!)

Some treasures are just too fun to resist! 







While not necessarily profound, these certainly bring cheer to the dark corners of my life.





 

Other treasure was found in childhood...

...and changed my life and heart for the better - establishing itself firmly in my heart for all time.

Some treasures were collected along the way....

...the rarest and most precious of these treasures have rather inexplicably stuck with me through all these years.









Some treasures may not look extraordinary, but they remind of a place and a time... of a love that, though never perfect, was truer than true.  

And within that treasure, lay a lifetime of more treasures...


which has even begun to overflow with treasure.














 
Nature and tradition,

and family...  these too are treasures, for which I never had to search very hard.

(Even if some of the treasures maybe sometimes make me just a little crazy!)

One of my very most cherished of treasures happened along when I least expected it - after a very long wait.  Even after feeling certain that this treasure would never be mine.... 

Week 7 of Photo 52: treasure

...and I discovered how incredibly worth the long wait it was.   

It brought with it new family...

  

new traditions,

blended with the old.

It also brought dreams of new treasures to be discovered.

Dreams that have been shattered at every turn.

It seems sometimes the treasure we seek the hardest, is the one that forever eludes us. 

No matter how well we outfit and equip ourselves for the hunt.

My life is indeed full of treasure. Yet the great majority of this blog has focused on the treasure that I cannot attain, the treasure for which I've hunted many years now, to no avail.  Turning over clue after clue, chasing the next lead... yet always ending in disappointment.

It's so hard, so incredibly hard to give up the hunt - and the hope - for such a priceless treasure, no matter how much pain it's created.  After all, how do you know when to keep seeking such treasure - and when to give up?  What is the difference between quitting and acceptance?  What if it's that next clue, that next lead, that next turn that holds the treasure?

I don't know the answers.  I truly wish I did.  In the end, perhaps it doesn't matter because sometimes a treasure hunter's resources dry up, leaving no real choice - only questions, regrets, and despair.

Still, what I do know is that though my heart is broken and my spirit is so greatly disturbed within me, there is a treasure beyond all treasure. This treasure, though free, is never cheap. 

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  (Matthew 6:19-21)