In a world of negativity, it is only natural to create a protective barrier towards an experienced negative emotion. When we were children experiencing name calling or physical abuse, we immediately create a defensive behavior protecting us from future encounters. Growing up we create protective barriers  and these barriers keep us from being who we truly meant to be. Our defense mechanisms actually block us from reaching our inner most feelings…that of pure Love.
Have you ever an experience make you so mad you felt helpless? Where do you suppose that conditioned response came from? It is often said we are conditioned through our personal direct and indirect experiences, leaving us no choice but react in fear. The following story is about a man who finds a treasure map. The only thing he need doing,  is dig it up…for the treasure was guaranteed…
A man comes home to his beautiful bride uncontrollably excited he tells her he found a treasure map guaranteeing riches beyond comprehension. The exciting part was he deduced that the treasure was buried right in their very back yard! Already getting the shovels ready out back, he invited his wife to join him in the dig.
They begin digging and imagining what the riches might be. The wife imagines paying off their house, getting new cars, sending their kids to the finest colleges and taking 3-4 exotic trips per year. The husbands ideas were a bit different, as he expressed the need for a boat, new cars, motorcycles, 4-wheelers, snowmobiles, cabin on thousands of acres, new house, and quitting his job.
After about 4 hours, they both are experiencing fatigue while second-guessing there is even a treasure at all. Losing hope fast, they continue the dig. The wife quits from exhaustion but the husband keeps digging.
After 8 hours in total, the husband is angry and wonders why he is even digging in the first place. His wife, handing him a refreshing glass of lemonade, offers him some encouragement, “Dear. How will we ever know if there is a treasure, if we give up digging?”
The husband replies, “But dear. We have dug for over 8 hours and we haven’t found anything yet and the ground is getting more difficult to penetrate. It would be easy if it were topsoil, but the clay and rocks makes it nearly impossible to cut through.”
The wife reminds her husband that “if it were all topsoil the treasure would have been found by now. Being clay many people are certain to have given up, just as you want to. Now is the time to press on and go for the treasure that you were so sure of in the first place.”
“Yes, I can do this.”

He looks to his wife, “I need your help dear. I cannot do this alone. Together we can cut through the toughest of earth thrown at us.”
After digging for another 45 minutes they come to stop…they found something. It was a treasure alright, filled with everything imaginable. Gems, gold, bonds, deeds to land, and a mirror that read…”while these treasures are here for your taking, the true gift lay within. You persevered where others gave up, you came together when others split up, you sacrificed much time to obtain your goals. You are the gift beyond all measures…the rest is just details.”
Just as in life, there are promises of  a treasure beyond measure but when we discover it may require a bit of digging up past negative experiences we forget about the promised treasure. Truth is, only 1-5% of all people are willing to cut through the dirty part of our lives for true healing. Our true healing can come from undeniable faith of being saved, but more often than not our human flesh gets in the way of our beliefs. Because of our stubbornness, we often have to learn things the difficult way. In the case of the husband and wife team, they their faith and actions to find paradise. It took faith of the husband and wife, but it also took the support of the wife for this dream to come true. In going beyond the dirty past, we find a beautiful paradise.
There was a clay Buddha statue owned by a battered monastery. One day a monk noticed something shiny coming through the dirty clay statue of the Buddha. When he began chiseling away he discovered a golden Buddha thought to have been lost for thousands of years. The monks of the old days covered the golden Buddha in clay so that the armies, that destroyed their village years ago, would never find the Buddha. The treasure would not have been found without persistence of this monk.

“David was already in there. I just chipped away the excess.”

~Michelangelo

As in life we are to chip away the excess. If all we know is what we know on the surface, how would we ever know what lay underneath?

While the Pilgrim would have given up digging in the dirt, with no promise of ever finding a treasure and leaving him unknowing to what lay underneath. The Warrior continues digging, giving thanks for each new layer unearthed. With every layer, She knows that her treasure lay beneath the next layer…going yet another layer.

Stepping into the Canvas with shovel in hand. Daring to dig up the past, only to heal once more. Those willing to chip away the excess will surely find their David laying underneath. In unearthing the past we instinctively lay a new canvas to be shared by all.