The Treasure Chest - Carol Harrison

Writing is like a treasure hunt, sorting through the various ideas swirling in my mind, looking for a nugget of treasure. some days the ideas flow and I enjoy the process. I even feel productive on those good days. But at other times nothing works. I sort through the treasure box of letters and words but discard them as unworthy to do justice to the idea or project at hand. Sometimes they seem too boring or just a trifle. The right words, the treasure I search for seems to escape into thin air. Most likely I never found it in the first place and must continue to hunt, to map the ideas again and hope to be excited by what I find when I next explore the treasure chest. 

I am a storyteller who loves to speak to various age groups, sharing the greatest treasure of all - Jesus. When I speak at camps, I use a small, inexpensive, wooden treasure box. At the end of evening chapels the campers and their leaders get to choose a piece from the box to help them remember the lesson that night. When I tell them about how God protected Daniel in the lion's den, the treasure is a lion sticker. One day of each camp week the treasure chest holds a red plastic gem to help them remember that Jesus is the only way to heaven and a restored connection with God. The red colour represents the blood of Jesus, shed for each one of us. It is the cornerstone of our faith. It is a gem to remind us that we are loved and precious in God's sight.

Faith is a treasure which is always available to everyone for God is ever present and never changing. I long to hear His voice and know I am traveling the path he has chosen for me. I want to hear his voice and obey the nudges he gives me as I use the abilities and gifts he has given.

Writing is like a treasure hunt. I do not always understand the clues that will take me to the final wonderful treasure of a completed piece. The map is not clear and yet I need to follow the trail, dream of sharing the story with a reader and enjoying the journey with all its surprises and challenges. Some days the way appears difficult to follow. It can be like looking for the treasure without a map where X marks the spot.

Write this idea. Do not write this one. Prioritize the ideas and projects but which one should be first. What should writing look like for me at this point in my life? What should it look like in yours? 

Finding a treasure and writing both take a lot of hard work. It is time to dig  into the treasure box containing all the letters we need to make any word we want. Ideas continue to bounce around in my mind, begging to be organized and written down. I need to choose which words convey the message, then put them in order to form a rough map for the final project, the treasure of a story, a book, an article, poem or blog post. I follow the clues left by the words and edit until I am satisfied the words are the correct ones, nothing extra or flowery yet with enough words to convey what the reader needs to follow the path through the story.

I keep a small ceramic treasure box which I painted. It is not perfect but offers me memories of a day spent with friends trying something new. Opening it offers a surprise since I painted the interior a bright, cheery blue. It also reminds me of the surprises ideas afford us and the great words we can use to convey those ideas to someone else.

 I am a storyteller and the greatest story I can tell or write is the treasure of my faith. I need to incorporate the words that will share the story of Jesus with others to encourage, to offer hope in the middle of tough times and sometimes just to brighten their day. Hopefully you too enjoy the treasure hunt of writing out the ideas with the words and letters that fill our treasure box.

As a speaker, published author and storyteller, Carol Harrison is passionate about mentoring people of all ages and abilities to help them find their voice and reach their fullest potential. She shares from her heart, telling stories from real life experiences and God’s Word to encourage people and help them find a glimmer of hope no matter what the circumstances. She believes we need to continuously grow in our walk with God and lives out her storytelling passion by speaking at women’s events and retreats, Bible Camps as well as school assemblies and church events. Carol is a wife, mother of four adult children and grandmother to twelve. She makes her home is Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.