What Kind of Treasure-seeker Are You?

While digging for sand creatures with my kids yesterday, it hit me. We are all on the hunt for treasure in various ways.

What kind of treasure-seeker are you?

The child. The child eagerly digs for signs of life on the beach, completely absorbed in the joy of discovery without any cares in the world. For my daughters, joy was the natural outcome of pursuing signs of life. But they were not digging around the sand looking for something called, “joy.”

The dad digging with his child. That was me. I enjoyed digging for tiny creatures AND delighting in my children’s joy. The play was a kind of double joy. The dad has played the game, knows the rules, and finds purpose in guiding others in the game.

The bystander. While we dug, I noticed a man—an elderly man—watching my daughters and I. His smile seemed to conceal a flood of sweet memories from his own life. Bystanders are not involved in the game. Perhaps they played before. For whatever reason(s), they’ve moved on.

The detectorist. Another elderly man glided past us, seemingly oblivious to our presence. As far as he was concerned, we were no more visible than the entire world around him. He glided over all parts of the beach. With his metal detector, he scanned for what might have been the lottery. Detectorists pursue, not life, not even joy, but lifeless gods. The treasures of this world let them down but hit them with enough dopamine to keep wanting more.

So which are you? The child, searching for signs of life to tend to in God’s world? The dad, playing the game in his child’s pursuit—guiding and nudging the child? The bystander, perhaps feeling like you’ve plateaued; thinking that your heyday has passed? Or the detectorist, in pursuit not for life, but material things that you believe might give you life and fulfillment?

Let’s be honest. We’re probably a mix of the four on any given day, yea?