#4 - SEARCH NO MORE

Ali Hafed was a farmer from Africa, who was happy and contented. One day a priest came to visit him and told him about the glory of diamonds and the power that goes along with having them. The priest said, "If you have a diamond the size of your thumb, you could have your own city. If you had a diamond the size of your fist, you could own the whole country." After the priest left, the farmer could not sleep that night. He became unhappy and discontented with what he had, and the whole night he thought to himself how rich and powerful he would become if he could possess some diamonds.

The next morning, he sold off his farm, left his family with his neighbor, and set off to search for diamonds. He traveled all over Africa, but could not find any. He looked all over Europe and couldn't find any. Finally, he became emotionally, physically and financially broke and decided to take his own life by throwing himself into the river.

Back home, the person who had bought his farm was watering the camels at a stream that ran through the farm. He suddenly saw a curious flash of light from the white sands of the shallow stream. Reaching into the water, he pulled out a rough stone that sparkled like the colors of the rainbow. Finding the stone interesting, he took it back to his house and placed it as a decoration piece in his living room. One day the priest came to visit, and saw the sparkling stone. He exclaimed, "Here is a diamond! Is Hafed back?" The man replied, "No, no, Hafed has not returned, and that is not a diamond. It is only a stone I found right here in the garden." When the priest heard this, he declared, "I know a diamond when I see one."

Together they rushed out to the garden stream and began searching. To their amazement, there came up other more beautiful and valuable stones than the first. Thus, was discovered the largest diamond mine in the world.

SUCCESS PRINCIPLES

The above story, Acres of Diamonds was lectured by Russell H. Conwell more than 6,000 times during his lifetime. With the funds from the above lectures he founded Temple University.

We are forever looking for opportunities elsewhere rather than within us. "Acres of Diamonds" taught us that the riches and opportunities that we are searching are within us. As the saying goes, "the grass on the other side always appears to be greener." Diamonds in its rough form do not look like diamonds. The raw diamonds need to be skillfully worked on and polished before they are of value. Likewise most of us are like the raw diamonds, and need to be worked on and polished before we realize our full potential