While in Kilimanjaro
waiting for my flight I visited a place called the Tanzanite Foundation.
Tanzanite is a very rare and beautiful gemstone only found in Tanzania. While
on this tour I was taught about a local Maasai tribesman who discovered this
stone in 1967 only for the world to learn just how rare it is. It turns out,
Tanzanite is only found in a 16 square kilometer area near the Kilimanjaro
airport. Let me repeat this … God created earth's surface to be 510 million sq
km. He then decided it would delight him to take an incredibly beautiful
gemstone and tuck it away into a tiny area of just 16 sq km in a beautiful land
near Kilimanjaro. And as to our knowledge that 16 sq km is the only place on
earth to find this gemstone. Tanzanite stone is said to be 1000 times more rare
than diamonds!
God also decided to
enhance its beautify by letting light have fun with it. With different light
reflections the tanzanite gem can appear to be 3 different colors: blue,
burgundy and violet (the fancy term for this is trichroism). I wonder if that
was just for kicks and the Trinity decided to each pick a color to place in
this gem, which also represents to us how the Trinity is seen! Just think,
depending on how the light reflects this stone, it shows up as one of three
different characteristics/colors, but it is still just one stone!
So all that is fun
and wonderful but here is what God has also shown me. I was just in awe when I
learned about the rarity of this gem and at how God, for His own pleasure
tucked it away in just this tiny region in all of the world. I began to wonder, with all the rest of the
earths surface and depth, what else has he tucked away? What else will we possibly never find? I
smiled just thinking about the secrets He has. But then God spoke to me how
much He does enjoy sharing his secrets with us. And that was when he gave me a
lesson of how this gemstone is very much how He see's the true us.
I also heard God
speak this to my heart, "Melissa," he said, "do you see how
everyone travels to Kilimanjaro to climb the mountain. Its big, its easy to see
and it’s a popular destination. Some times people are like that mountain. They
become an attraction. Everyone is looking at its obvious beauty, its stands
out, its majestic and a challenge as well. But I want everyone to know that
meanwhile, when everyone is looking at the obvious mountain, I have gems tucked
inside the ground. Gems more beautiful then you could ever imagine. And that is
what I've put in each and over person I've created."
You see, sometimes
we can get jealous and the mountain top experiences of others. And sometimes we
desire to stay on the mountain top in our own lives. But I believe God wants us
to know, that the deeper He takes us, the more treasures we will find. Because
before all of creation, He already set it in His mind to place them there. And
in each or our circumstances, just like all the specific things required for
each gemstone, we get closer and closer to discovering the beauty He has inside
all of us. And with different lights being reflected on us, we too show
different shades of coloring, different qualities.
So the trick is..
Are you looking for them? Are you willing to dig deep into uncharted territory.
Or do you keep looking for the mountain top and only showing the things that
everyone already sees? Because God see's in you the gems and He is just waiting
to show you how beautiful you are. Those secret thoughts and desires you have,
those are His gems in you. Those gifting's that He has given you… you know the
ones that you've not yet taken risks in yet. He's ready for you to reveal them
and practice in them. Because they are beautiful. More beautiful and rare than
tanzanite. Because like the tanzanite, you too can only be found in one single
place in this entire planet. And we need you.
