A secret no one could keep

Many years ago was the beginning of the Anaconda Mining Company. It all started when a group of prospectors set out from Bancock, Mon., in search of gold. 

After many hardships they were overtaken by Indians who took their food and good horses and left them with only a few ponies that was not worth much. The Indians told the prospectors to return back to Bancock and if they ever returned to that region again they would over take them and kill them. They felt that their efforts had been wasted. They were discouraged and heartbroken as they started back home.

One night they set up camp along a little creek. One man picked up a stone from the creek bed and examined it and said, “This looks like it may be gold!” 

The others heard him and pulled out their pans and begin panning for gold. That night they panned about $50 worth of gold, which was a large sum in that day and time. As they returned back home, they made a vow not to tell anyone about their discovery. They bought more tools and food supplies and the next morning headed out to where they found the gold. Much to their surprise, when they turned around, there were over 100 men that were following them. They all questioned each other to who had broken the vow. Each insisted that they had told no one. When they asked the men that had been following them, the only explanation was their beaming faces had betrayed their secret.

Christians do not have a secret to hide, but a treasure to share. We have found the true gold, the “pearl of great price,” and there is plenty for everyone. 

Let those around you know it, not only by your words but by your beaming faces. The Bible tells us, “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and percieved that they were ignorant and unlearned men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus.” (Acts 4:13) 

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us that we are “Lights of the world, a city set on a hill that cannot be hidden.” So let us all “Let our lights so shine before men that they may see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14, 16)