Several years ago, when the children were still living at home, we took a walk through our neighborhood together.  It was Mother’s Day.  We had only walked about a half of a block when we came across a ten-dollar bill in the street.  No one else was on the street, and we had no way of knowing whose it was.  So, we just took it and continued our walk.  Of course, there was shared excitement about the found money, and we talked about it.  The conversation funneled into a discussion of what we could do with the money.  It then morphed into how we had occasionally found “dropped” change in a street or in a parking lot.  It was suggested and agreed that we would make it our determined action to look for dropped money for a year and save it.  So, the “ten spot” was placed in a container to be joined by any other money we found.  At the end of the full year, we would then see how much money we had collected.  Thus, it began.  At the end of the year, we emptied the container, counted the money, and learned that we had found a total of seventeen dollars.  Note, the sum of our “found treasure” was not really a substantial amount of money.  It was still something of fun endeavor to find what had been lost, accidentally discarded, or not worthy of a search.  We did not repeat our adventure, but we still watch for change that has been lost along the way.

Run time forward about thirty years. 

Jasper, our dog, and I were on a walk on a recent day.  As we rounded a corner, I looked downward to see a twenty-dollar bill in the debris next to the curb.  No cars were near, and no houses faced the nearby area of the street.  So, I pocketed the money and figured to give it to my wife.  Jasper agreed with my choice.  It was fun to return home and hand the money to my wife, with the explanation of where I got the money.  Again, twenty dollars is not a large sum of money, but it was at least a little bit exciting to deal with an unexpectedly “found treasure” of that size.  It was unusual and made a great story to tell.

On a more recent walk with Jasper, another treasure was found.  Pausing to let Jasper sniff something, I happened to look downward and saw something dark on the concrete street.  Looking closer it appeared to be a brownish-copper disk.  Yes, it was a penny.  Scooping it into my hand, the dirty copper appearance became more obvious.  From the looks of that penny, it may have been on the street for a while.  The penny was a bit discolored and heavily scarred.  The images were heavily scarred from the roughness of the street and apparently having been pressed by many car tires.  While the words and date on the coin were almost unreadable, it was still recognizable as a penny.

Three things came to mind as I examined that little treasure.  (1) No one else had picked-up that penny. Admittedly, it might have been unnoticed. (2) Even if it was recognized, it may not have seemed worth the effort to retrieve it.  It was only a penny.  (3) It was so scarred and abused that it might not even have the value of a penny.

None the less, it was placed in my pocket, and later it found a place on my desk.

On a later day, finishing my morning reading of the Bible and the local paper, that scarred penny caught my eye.  Only, in my mind, it became a representation of something more.  I wondered how many scarred and discarded lives are left in the road of life, not considered to have enough value to be “picked-up”.  I wondered how many times I had counted lives as not worthy of my effort.  Perhaps those lives had been so abused and scarred that it was hard to see much value in them.  Then I remembered the many stories of the people that Jesus touched.  He saw the value in them.  So many had faced the harshness of difficult lives.  Some were products of their own making.  Each of them carried the marring scars that were covering the possibilities of valuable life in them.  But Jesus reached for them, and the value was there.  The words He shared with some fishermen are a testimonial of the treasure He saw, and still sees, in every life, “I will make you become” (Mark 1:17).   Even a scarred and abused penny can be a treasure.

As this little is being written, Jasper and I have just returned from another walk.  Yes, again I found another heavily scarred penny, lost in the street.  And yes, I put it in my pocket.  A little later, I noticed three more pennies in the street.  The three pennies were in much better shape, and yes, I put them in my pocket too. 

Every “penny” needs to know it is a treasure.

Russell L. Dyer

6/19/2025

Everyone has secrets.  There are thoughts and experiences that are held deep in the recesses of mind.  Sometimes those thoughts are buried as deeply as possible, with the desire that even the thinker will never consciously recognize them again. 

So, as a contrast, think about the truth behind such things.  It really is simple.  For, the fact is, a secret is only a secret until it is told, seen, or in some way recognizably shared.  After any kind of recognition or revelation, it is no longer a secret.  For even when a thing is shared in confidence, if it is shared confidentially one time, what is to prevent it from being shared in confidence (even with good intentions) again and again.  It may not be in the class of gossip.  It may just be a fire in the bones, longing to “get out”.  Personal secrets are best kept personally, if they are to be kept as secrets.

Beyond personal matters, there are larger secrets of groups, organizations, or even nations.  The well used adage of security during wartime is: “Loose lips sink ships.”  The security of many people may depend on secrets being kept to never reach the ears of enemies.

When there is a secret, it means that something is hidden.  Whenever it is known that there is something hidden, there is a seemingly natural desire to uncover the secret.  So, when curiosity is aroused, its driving force is one of the most powerful motivations of the human spirit.  It may be a common saying which offers the reminder of curiosity killing the cat, and so reality boldly tells that curiosity can truly push in a dangerous or even a destructive direction.  In contrast to the negative, there is also a more beneficial side to this driving force.  Consider what has been added to the volume of human knowledge and experience out of curiosity.  Armed with curiosity, explorers launched small ships into the unknown to find new lands in unexplored parts of this world.  Further, there is knowledge of the far reaches of space and the depths of this world’s oceans.  No reminder is needed to tell of how technology has changed so many aspects of the functions of life and work.  So much of what is taken for granted in the present began in the curiosity of someone’s mind.  Nothing is thought of flipping a light switch, adjusting a thermostat, or starting a car.  When something is yet unknown, or seemingly hidden, it is a secret that an innate desire longs to uncover.

Truly, not all secrets are treasures to be uncovered.  Some of them are purposely private matters and are best to be held in such reserve.  Note, there are questions that ought to be asked before sharing a secret.  Will it do harm to another person when it is shared?  Will telling the matter breach a trusted confidence?  Will the benefit of sharing outweigh any negative consequences that may result?  Are the ones to whom a secret is revealed ready to handle what may come as a result?  There are probably many other questions that ought to be asked.  Such questions are just a reminder that revealing a secret is not always a simple matter.

Still, there are secrets and treasures that deserve to be brought to light.  There may be some pieces of knowledge that could be a benefit to many others.  Faith and love are two of the large matters that cannot be kept secret.  Love cannot be held in secret, or it ceases to exist within its unshared state.  Similarly, faith that is hidden ceases to be faith.  Each becomes like a light that is beneath an impenetrable cover. 

It must be noted though, when a secret is revealed, it cannot be un-revealed.  Generally, a secret takes a life of its own and grows uninhibitedly.  It becomes like a statement on social media.  Once it is there, it cannot be fully taken back.  At the heart of one of the pop hits of the Beatles we find two imposingly opposing questions: “Do you want to know a secret?  Do you promise not to tell?”  Of course, the hearer wants to know.  At the same time, once it is told or shown, it ceases to have the privacy of a real secret.  Well, love of one person for another should never really be a secret anyway.  Let Romeo and Juliet be an example of error.

Anyway, all of this was simply to be clear.  If you tell a secret, most of the time it will cease to be a private matter.  If it is not something that needs to be shared, keep it a secret.  If it is something to be shared, let it be shared.  Again, a secret is a secret only until it is told.

Russell L. Dyer

6/12/2025