The moral to this story is that there are things we don't understand, things called "mysteries" that we may never find out, but we can be glad we have some things God has given us we can always be sure of.

Alfred Stadem was a good farmer and he bought some land and added it to Plain View Farm. But before he bought it he went and took a look at it first. Did Denver the dog go along? Yes, I think I hear him barking at a rabbit or a pheasant! Well, the field had never been plowed before and was part of the grassy Prairie that covered these grassy, northeast hills of the Dakotas.

One day he had his horses out plowing the new field when he noticed something in the furrow. He went and picked it up, and it turned out to be an old cup. He must have wondered, "What was a cup doing out here in the wide, open country?" More surprising to him, it held coins, some of them silver! He was holding someone's bank account. But whose? Bands of Sioux Indians who had hunted buffalo for their living had camped on this piece of ground for a long time in the past. Now it was his land, and so the little treasure fell to him. Would they ever return for the cup? Not likely. The cup was probably forgotten. The owner who knew the whereabouts may have died years before Alfred found it. If only cups could tell stories instead of just hold water, coffee, or orange juice! What would THIS old cup say? Why was it buried? Who buried it? How was the money earned? Where did the money come from? Was it payment for a lot of pelts or buffalo hides? Whoever put the money there had passed on, perhaps forever, but the money remained--a mystery in a cup. Do you know something you can't explain? There are lots of things that we can't understand, aren't there? But we know we can trust God, who loves us, and our parents and grandparents, who love us dearly too. We know them, and so they aren't mysteries that come and go without any reason that we can tell. Mysteries can be good, and they can be not so good. But even the good mysteries aren't as good as a real Mom and Dad, a real Grandma and Grandpa, and a real Lord Jesus who love us each and all. Right? They're our real treasure, and we don't have to keep them a secret like someone did with the treasure cup!

LINKS TO OTHER PAGES ON THESE WEBSITES:

Stadem Photo Album Master Directory

CENTRAL FOR RON'S WRITINGS

Stadem Families Saga Continues

Plain View Farm Home Page

The Road Map is said to take long

to download, but worth it in a humorous way

Plus it is the navigator of the narrative flow:

Plain View Farm Road Map

(c)2006, Butterfly Productions, All Rights Reserved luteuffdahfisk@hotmail.com