Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21

In the early years of the 1900s, a couple moved from North Carolina to Oklahoma. There they farmed a small piece of land.

Truth be told, they lived mighty poorly for a good number of years. That all changed when a stranger drove up on their property and took a sample of their water. I'm not sure what he found, but it wasn't too much later that another stranger showed up and offered to buy their farm at an unbelievable price.

Before long, a high-producing oil well was located between the house and the barn. Reminiscing, the old farmer said, "To think that we slaved here for all those years and all that time we had a fortune under our doorstep and we didn't know about it."

Now, I'm not going to suggest we all ought to go out and dig in our backyard for oil. Life doesn't work that way -- at least not very often.

But I do suggest that the Lord, who gave His Son to save us, may have also given unrecognized fortunes to many of us.

Perhaps your unrecognized fortune is a spouse who has given faithfully without getting much in return. Perhaps your unrecognized fortune is an unexpectedly kind place of employment. Maybe it is in the form of children who respect you, or a church that appreciates you.

Most of us have fortunes right outside our back doors or under our roofs. This is why I would encourage you to offer a special "thank you" for those hidden fortunes; it seems the right thing to do.

Pastor Ken Klaus Lutheran Hour Ministries http://www.lhm.org/ all rights reserved; not to be duplicated without permission.