High Dollar Flake

Two sisters recently made $1,350 on eBay. They sold a corn flake.

Yes, you read correctly. They sold a corn flake. Not a box of corn flakes, but a single flake.

Sound a little flaky to you? Well, it seems this particular corn flake was in the exact shape of the state of Illinois. The auction lasted more than a week, and was sold to a man who wants to add it to his traveling museum of pop culture and Americana items.

I will never look at a bowl of corn flakes in the same way. After all, if somebody paid that much for Illinois, just think how much they would pay for Texas! And I’ll bet, if I look hard enough, I might even find one that looks like Elvis. From now on, I’ll view each cereal box as a potential treasure chest, and I’ll search for hidden treasure each morning at breakfast.

Isn’t it funny how seemingly insignificant things can end up having such great value? I’ve found, in my own life, the important, valuable things show up in the most unexpected places. Things like a drippy ice cream cone on a hot day, eaten on the front porch at my grandmother’s house. At the time, that seemed like just an ordinary occurrence. Now, the memory is a great treasure to me.

I can’t help but think of all the wonderful people in my life who, to the rest of the world, probably seem pretty ordinary. People like my Jr. High English teacher. She had gray streaks in her hair, and wore orthopedic shoes. She told me I could write. She told me I had potential. She believed in me.

And my next-door neighbor, growing up. He wore a uniform of a tan shirt, tan pants, and brown boots to work every day. He drove an old blue Ford pick-up, smoked a pipe, and always smelled like tobacco. Sometimes, when he mowed his yard, he would mow ours too – just because. And he always brought us pecans from his tree.

These people were priceless treasures.

So often, we search for treasure in the obvious places – like the jewelry stores. We look to the glitzy, glamorous Hollywood stars, the talented athletes, the slick politicians to be our role models in life. We see the sparkle, and we assume that is where the treasure lies. But remember – all that glitters is not gold.

And diamonds don’t sparkle until they are polished. But that doesn’t mean they don’t exist – beneath the layers of coal.

Very often, real treasure in life is found in the ordinary people. Like those corn flakes, they may be a little rough around the edges. At first glance, they seem to blend right in with the rest of the flakes of this world. But on closer inspection, we will find something unique and special about each and every flake in the bowl. When we really look, we find that each one has something that makes it different from the others. And if we look closely enough, we will find great treasure in the midst of the ordinary, seemingly insignificant people of this world.

From now on, I’m going to turn each day into a treasure hunt. I’m going to try to find the unique value in every person I meet. Perhaps, as I focus on that value, others will notice it too, and before long, everyone around me will feel like treasures instead of flakes.

Maybe I’ll even carry one of those miniature boxes of corn flakes around with me, as a reminder. Well . . . I probably won’t do that. That would be too corny.

1 Corinthians 1: 28 “God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important.”