Make a Pearl

The last couple of years have been challenging to say the least. Many have experienced a range of negative emotions and it’s not been easy to maintain our equilibrium. We all have our favorite coping mechanisms (Hallmark movie anyone?) and some are better than others. It’s easy to say just trust Jesus, and yes, my faith and trust in him is how I cope with life. But in difficult situations, I sometimes need a little help to turn my focus back to him.

A devotional from YouVersion (a Bible app with devotionals, different translations and reading plans) mentioned turning our irritations into pearls, much as oysters do. (Sorry I can’t remember which one so I can’t give credit.) Most of you are probably familiar with how a mollusk can cover a grain of sand or other irritant with nacre to form a beautiful pearl. An oyster doesn’t complain, just gets busy covering that irritant with aragonite (a mineral) and conchiolin (a protein). These are laid down in layers and can take two years to form the pearl. 

We don’t have any kind of automatic way to cover irritants in our lives, but we can choose to cover them with prayer, rather than let them wear us down. When I let something continue to bug me, it seems to grow and make me miserable. But I can remind myself to make a pearl, praying for God to lay down a layer of patience, peace and equanimity. By choosing to focus on Jesus and his always sufficient grace, I am laying down a layer of surrender, trust and dying to self. Just like an oyster, I also have to continue covering my irritants over and over in layer after layer, waiting patiently for the pearl to form. 

From now on, when something, anything, bothers me I’m going ask Jesus to help me make a pearl. One day, my spiritual jewelry box could be full of beautiful pearls rather than the sand and grit of bitterness, resentment and a bad attitude.