A Different Kind of Gold Digger

“Anyone can find the dirt in someone. Be the someone who finds the gold.”

I saw this quote while going through Facebook this morning, and so many memories of conversations and client sessions moved across the screen of my mind.

Many times—if not most times—when a client comes to me about a difficult relationship, they can identify every wrong thing about the other person or people involved in the conflict.

My work is to help them look beyond who did what and begin to see the purpose the conflict may be serving.

When we look through different eyes and from another perspective, we may begin to see the gold in the very person in whom we could previously see only dirt. We may begin to recognize the treasure and the wisdom emerging from the situation.

And quiet as it’s kept, most of us resist conflict.

But if we never arrive at a point of conflict, how do we recognize that something is not flowing properly for us—or that something is no longer aligned with what is ideal for us?

Conflict does not always have to be treated as the enemy. When approached with honesty and different eyes, it can become a messenger.

The same thing happens when clients come to me because they want to grow, expand, heal or treat a pattern within themselves.

They can identify all the negative things.

They can point to all the dirt.

All of it.

But underneath that dirt, there is treasure.

Think about the things we value highly—diamonds, rubies, emeralds, topaz, marble, granite and quartz. These treasures are found beneath the earth, sometimes buried at extraordinary depths.

We willingly invest enormous effort, machinery, time and money to uncover them.

Yet, for the most part, we are unwilling to make that same effort to unearth the treasures within ourselves—or to discover the gold within another person.

But the gold is there.

In my understanding, every soul arrives here pure. Life then lays experiences, beliefs, wounds, expectations and conditioning upon it. The person internalizes those things and may begin to believe that they are what has happened to them.

But at the core remains the pure, holy and unblemished soul—fundamentally good and perfect in its original nature.

As I reflected on that this morning, I suddenly recognized:

𝗘𝗮𝗿𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮 𝗴𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗱𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝗿!

I am always ready to pick up the shovel, bring in the excavator—or use whatever tool is necessary—and go down, down, down beneath everything that has accumulated until we reach the gold within a person’s soul.

Then I help them see it for themselves.

I help them begin to embrace the truth that they are fundamentally good, that they are loved by the One who created them, and that they themselves are love.

What a beautiful thing to recognize this morning.

I give thanks for the blessing and the opportunity to go into the trenches with others and help them discover the treasures within themselves.

Life is good.

God is good.

And everything is always working together for our highest good.

Always.