In the fall of 1988, I visited many Buddhist temples, but after a while they all began to fade from my memories. However, there was one temple that left a great impression in my heart.

It is called the Temple of the Golden Buddha. After walking around it and taking some photos, I walked over to a glass case, next to which was a typewritten page describing the history of this magnificent piece of art.

Back in 1957 a group of monks from a monastery(修道院) had to relocate a clay Buddha from their temple to a new location. The monastery was to be relocated to make room for the development of a highway. When the crane(吊车)began to lift it, the weight of was so large that it began to crack. What’s more, rain began to fall, The head monk decided to lower the statue back to the ground and cover it with a large oilcloth to protect it from the rain.

Later that evening the head monk went to check on the Buddha. He shined his flash- light under the oilcloth to see if the Buddha was staying dry. As the light reached the crack, he noticed a little beam shining back and thought it strange. As he took a closer look at this beam of light, he wondered if there might be something underneath the clay. He went to fetch a chisel and hammer from the monastery and began to chip away at the clay. As he knocked off pieces of clay, the little beam grew brighter and bigger. Many hours of labor went by before the monk stood face to face with the extraordinary solid-gold Buddha.

Historians believe that several hundred years before the head monk’s discovery, the army was about to invade the country. The monks, realizing that their country would soon be attacked, covered their precious golden Buddha with an outer covering of clay in order to keep their treasure from being robbed by the enemy.

Unfortunately, it appears that the enemy killed all the monks, and the well-kept secret of the golden Buddha remained uncovered until the day in 1957.

As I flew home I began to think to myself, “We are all like the clay Buddha covered with a shell of hardness created out of fear, and yet underneath each of us is a ‘golden Buddha’, agolden Christ, or a ‘golden spirit,’ which is our real self. Somewhere along the way, between the ages of two and nine, we begin to cover up our’ golden spirit,’ our natural self. Much like the monk with the hammer and the chisel, our task now is to discover our true spirit once again.”

I think people everywhere dream about having lots of money. I know I do. I would like to earn large amounts of money. You can win a large amount of money in the United States through lotteries. People pay money for tickets with numbers. If your combination of numbers is chosen, you will win a huge amount of money — often in the millions.

A few years ago, my friend Al won the lottery. It changed his life. He was not “born with a silver spoon in his mouth”. Instead, my friend was always short of money. And the money he did earn was chicken feed.

Sometimes Al even had to accept handouts (施舍物) from his friends. But do not get me wrong. My friend was always very careful with the money he spent. In fact, he was often a cheapskate. He did not like to spend money. The worst times were when he had no single penny left.

One day, Al scraped together a few dollars for a lottery ticket. He thought he would never gain lots of money unexpectedly. But his combination of numbers was chosen and he won the lottery. Al was so excited. The first thing he did was buy a costly new car — one thing that he normally would not buy. Then he started spending money on unnecessary things. It was like he had “money to burn”．

When we got together for a meal at a restaurant, Al paid every time. He would always tell me the money made him feel like a millionaire. But, Al spent too much money. Soon he was “down and out” again. He had spent his “bottom dollar” — his very last amount. He did not even save any of the money.

I admit I do feel sorry for my friend. He had enough money to “live like a king”. Instead, he was back to “living on a shoestring” — a very low budget. Some might say he was wise about small things, but not about important things.

Writing can be a solitary life. I often sit at home for days, weeks and sometimes months working on book projects, articles and other assignments. Seriously, some days I want to chase the FedEx driver yelling, “Wait! I need to talk to you!”

And sometimes I don’t see the result of my work. On occasion, I’ll get a message online or even a letter that has been mailed to my publisher. Or I’ll run into someone who says, “I love what you write.” A dad once sent me a message to tell me he had heard me speak on the radio, and it had convinced him that he hadn’t been spending enough time with his children. And then he went on to tell me how that had changed his relationship with his family.

Those are the things that keep writers going and the moments that touch our hearts. But with my newest book, it has been different. Because of the television show, I’ve experienced something I’ve never met before.

I’ve gotten to see the faces of the people who are being affected by my works. My co-author, Brian Bird, and I asked purchasers of our books to post their pictures with the books when they received their copies or found them in stores. Dozens of pictures began popping up, with beautiful sweet faces. I was moved to tears. Visual proof showed that my work was touching lives.

Sweet friends, most of you probably aren’t writers. But you are given a specific task to accomplish. You’ve worked hard - sometimes for years - and maybe it seems like nothing is happening. Or you feel like what you’re doing isn’t of value. You’re wrong. You might not get to see the faces of those you’re reaching, but there is no doubt in my mind that whenever we’re faithful to do what we have to do, we are impacting the lives of others. So keep doing what you’re doing. I can promise you it’s worth it.