Precious Pearls

It is amazing how God can take something irritating in our lives and turn it into a Beautiful pearl

July 23

I went to Costco with my son to pick up a few things for a party he is having on Friday. Normally I don’t stop to look at the jewelry, but since my son did, I took a peak as well. As I was looking at all the beautiful sparkling pieces, I saw a stunning pearl ring. Looking at this solitary pearl I was reminded how they are created from a tiny gain of sand.

Oysters may live in sand, and near sand but they do not like the sand in their shell. Occasionally a grain of sand will find its way into the shell of the oyster. This tiny piece of sand is an irritant. Think of the princess and the pea, or a tiny stone in your shoe. Something must be done. Oysters have an internal organ called the mantle. It uses minerals from the Oyster’s food to produce a substance called nacre. Nacre forms the shell and makes the lining of the shell soft and smooth for the oyster. The oysters' reaction to the sand is to cause the mantle to coat the gain of sand with nacre. Layers and layers of nacre. The longer the oyster has the irritant, the larger the pearl.

God does something similar in us. We have things in our lives that irritate us. Things we would simply rather not have to deal with. But when we submit to Him and His ways, He turns these irritants in our lives into precious pearls.

For Instance, if you pray for patience, you don't magically become patient. So many things seem to happen to irritate you. You feel the opposite of patient. Simply allow God into this and he will soften the agitation you feel. He will begin to work on you and in you, but only if you allow. Soon you have the beginnings of a pearl in your life. Soon real patience starts to grow. Beauty for ashes. A heart of stone for a heart of flesh. A small piece if sand into a pearl.