I want to tell you a story about a touchstone. Now if you don't know what a touchstone is, it is a stone that if you touch it to any kind of metal it turns it to gold.
This story starts in the city of Alexandria in ancient Egypt.
There was a great fire in the great library of Alexandria. This library was the largest library in the world at that time. This fire destroyed the building and a lot of the books as well.
There was a very poor gentleman who used to hang around the steps of the library because he was not allowed to enter due to his social status. He started to rummage through the remains of the fire. Upon doing so this gentleman discovered a few books that could still be read.
As he was going through one of the books a piece of parchment paper fell out of the book. As he started to read the parchment he discovered that it talked about a touchstone and had a map of where the touchstone could be found on the shores of the Black Sea. The parchment said that you could recognize a touchstone if it was hot when you placed it in the palm of your hand.
So he decided to take the belongings that he had, which was his donkey and tent and journey to the shores of the Black Sea.
As he reached the shores of the Black Sea he began to think to himself, "If this takes me 20 or 30 years it would be worth it."
As he started to pick up the stones to find the hot one, he thought, "How will I know which stones I have already picked up?" So he decided that as he picked up the stones he would throw all the cold ones back into the sea.
So he picked up his first stone. It was a cold one so he tossed it into the sea. He did this all day long, picking up stones and tossing them into the sea.
The second day came, same thing... pick up stones, cold, throw it into the sea, cold, throw it into the sea, cold, throw it into the sea.
This turned into weeks. Weeks turned into months and the months turned into in years. But he had a goal and he knew what he wanted to get, so he kept working.
Year after year, 5 years, 6 years, he picks up the stones, cold, he throw them into the sea, cold, he throws them into the sea. 10 years, 15 years, 16 years day after day he is working his way around the shore of the sea picking up stones, cold, throws them back into the sea.
Now he is into twenty years. Finally, into 211/2 years, he gets up one morning and he goes out and starts picking up the stones just like he's done every day for the past 21 years, here's another cold one, throws it back into the sea, here's another cold one, throw's it back into the sea. Picks one up, here's a hot one ... and he throw's it back into the sea!
Now, why do you thinkd he did he that? It was a habit. He was so used to failure and disappointment after 21 years, that when he had finally found what he had been looking for he threw it away.
You may have been presented with a opportunity that was just for a short time, may have seen others that were more long term. Maybe you have had so many disappointments and so many failures, so many things that have not worked out that when you see the real McCoy, you throw it into the sea.
And hopefully after today you'll have some ideas inside yourself, that you won't just throw it into the sea. Because we have something so incredible here.
Would it be worth 20 or 30 years to you if you could find a stone like that? To dedicate your life to finding that stone?
Walt Disney once said,
"All our dreams can come true -- if we have the courage to pursue them."
How about you?
Do you have the courage to pursue your dream?
Don't throw your touchstone into the ocean!
It's also been said that,
"The best way to help yourself reach a goal, is to help someone else reach those same goals!"
