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Buried Treasures
By: Mary Elder-Criss
When I was young, the word “treasure” usually conjured up images of a great fortune; gold, jewels, silver, a hoard of valuables carefully hidden away. I would immediately think of pirates confiscating treasure and burying it on a deserted island. I always hoped to someday get my hands on a pirate map and find some buried treasure for myself.
Every Christmas, my husband and I rent “It’s a Wonderful Life” to watch with our children. If you are not aware of the storyline, it is about a man named George Bailey who has spent all his life in the small town of Bedford Falls, longing to leave for bigger and brighter things. He stays, however, to save his father’s business, which is a building and loan company, from the corrupt hands of Mr. Potter, the town’s resident miser who is determined to own everything, and treat others cruelly. He is in control of the town’s bank, and is determined to have George’s business as well. George’s absent minded uncle inadvertently hands over $8,000 to Potter, and causes not only the imminent demise of George’s business, but also puts George in a place where he is threatened with a warrant for his arrest, for mishandling company funds. Potter sees his chance to finally be rid of George, and keeps the money.
George, overcome with misery, and in the grips of despair, is ready to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge into the icy waters below, when his own personal guardian angel, Clarence, shows up to stop him. During one scene where George and Clarence are drying off, after their icy plunge into the river, Clarence tells George he has been sent to help him. George then tells Clarence the only way he could help him was if he happened to have $8,000 on him. Clarence responded that money was not necessary in heaven, and George replies, “Well let me tell you Bub, it comes in pretty handy down here!”
As someone who has never had much money, I would have to agree with George’s sentiments expressed about the usefulness of money down here. Seemingly always in the midst of a financial disaster, George longs to provide more for his family, and is tired of living hand and mouth day to day. I can also identify with that. It is hard to see your husband go off to work each day, sometimes working for thirteen straight hours, only to come home to a broken furnace, or some other looming disaster. Sometimes it makes you wish you could just give up entirely. When you are short on money, you think that if you did have enough, everything would be fine, and you would suffer no more problems or heartaches.
In the movie, George finally tells Clarence he wishes that he had never been born, and what ensues next, is Clarence showing George what life would have been like if he had not been. The results show exactly how many lives George had touched in the course of his daily life. George came to realize that he did have much to be thankful for, and that treasure is not always about wealth, but about people, and the gift of giving from the heart. At the end of the movie, the whole town turns out with cash carried in banks, jars, and baskets to contribute towards the missing funds, to repay George for all the times he had helped them.
During the last few months of one financial trial after another, my whole family has banded together, and achieved a state of unity, heretofore unknown. My husband and I have become closer than ever, my children have reacted to each other in compassion and understanding, and we all have regained a sense of hope for the future. I have come to realize, finally, that God is trustworthy to fulfill His promises. There is a reason He allows things to happen, and the benefits we have reaped have been worth every trial. I have also come to realize that although gaily wrapped presents under the tree are nice, the most important gifts I can give my children, are the gifts of love, family, unity, perseverance in the face of tribulation, and hope.
The Bible says in Matthew 6:21, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” My family is my ultimate treasure. I just had to dig a little to realize where my riches lay.
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