6.
The Crystal Box

      Travel in concept with me, if you will, to the geometric center of infinity. See, floating here, a crystal box, fashioned by the Creator and filled with treasures for his children, in abundance enough for all.

      You and I gaze into the crystal box and behold the first of its treasures, the resolve to hold out for the real. One can be drawn into meaningless or temporary situations in the stream of time as if they possessed significance beyond the moment. To hold out for the real is to be free of smallnesses, greeds, self-deceptions, rationalizations, and other unrealities and to hearken instead to the call of light and life.

      Within the firmament of the crystal box you and I discover the treasure of the universal voice. God speaks in all of the realities of his creation. The scampering squirrel bearing a precious peanut in his mouth is, to ears attuned to the universal voice, an invitation-instruction to be diligent in the pursuit of one's ordained affairs for God, others, and self. The irrepressible little pine tree bursting with cones is, in its cone bearing, utterly industrious in carrying out the task for which it was created. Listen and hear the universal voice saying through all of these, Do you the same!

      See, among the treasures of the crystal box, the deep currents. Through the sea of life course invisible currents, each momentarily invested by the Infinite with the glow of truth. Sensing these currents and perceiving which bears truth in each passing instant, one can follow a succession of them like steppingstones through the confusion of temporal life.

      Among the treasures of the crystal box you and I discover the thirst for goodness. To some persons, goodness is a topic for discussion. To others it is a living reality that gives life meaning. The thirst for goodness is the desire to do good.

      The treasures of the crystal box are beyond final enumeration. You and I espy one more, the heart of purity. A pure heart is a gift from God, which one can have for the asking. It is an attitude, not a thing of ritual or abstinence. Once it is received, one can retain it simply by wanting to.