An old legend says that when Adam was expelled from the Garden of Eden he lay down under a tree and slept, his soul beside him. While he slept the four spirits - Earth, Water, Air, and Fire - stole man's soul and carried it away.

Then the four spirits looked about for a place to hide man's soul so that he could never find it again. The spirit of Earth said, "I will hide it in my depths." The spirit of Water said, "I will sink it into the deepest waters of the sea." The spirit of Air said, "Let me hide it beyond the farthest star."

But the spirit of Fire objected to all these suggestions, saying, "Let me burn man's soul in my flames." To this all the spirits agreed. But in a short while man's soul emerged unscathed by the flames. Then at length the four spirits agreed upon this plan, saying: "We will hide man's soul where he will never find it; we will hide man's soul within man himself." And so they did, so the legend says.

Well, in whatever way man's soul got where it is, God knows it is there. The problem is that sometimes we don't. We let our souls get lost within us. Running in dizzy circles around life's outer edges, we sometimes lose touch with what is at the center.

Here in worship today let's try to find our souls, wherever they are within us. Let's strip aside all the overgrowth that holds them down and keeps them where the shadows are. Let's try to open up ourselves to let some of God's light in, and some of his love. And we may discover inward treasures we never knew were there.