The Beauty of Time and Pain

 
The one accessory that is a must for me each day is earrings.  I feel “naked” or “undressed” if I don’t have my earrings on before I leave the house. My number one go to earring pair is my pearl earrings.  I can go to the store without make up in tattered jeans but I must have my pearl earrings in. I do wear other earrings for specific attires but my daily, most frequent wear are the pearls.  Lady Sarah Churchill, the Duchess of Marlborough and the daughter of Sir Winston Churchill expressed my sentiments perfectly in a quote about pearls. “I feel undressed if I don’t have my pearls on. My pearls are my security blanket.”  Hum, I have never exactly thought of them as a security blanket; however, I do feel some distress if I reach up and touch my ear lobe and they are not there or one has fallen out. I will quickly purchase another pair. Pearls have been a favorite of mine for some time.  I totally agree with Jackie Kennedy – the wife of the 35th American President John F. Kennedy - who said, “Peals are always appropriate.”  So, when in doubt how to accessorize, wear pearls. You can never go wrong with any attire with pearls.  What makes pearls more special, in my opinion, than other jewels?  An old Chinese proverb says, “Pearls don’t lie on the seashore, if you want one, you must dive for it.” So lets do a deep dive about the significance of pearls. To do that, let’s look at the creation of the pearls.  Precious metal and jewels are found in the ground and excavated, cleaned, buffed, and cut to enhance their worth; however, the pearl is the only jewel found in a living creature.  Pearls are found primarily in oysters, fresh water or saltwater, but even more rare in clams and mussels. Pearls are started when a foreign substance, which becomes an irritant, enters the oyster and becomes embedded. According to HowStuffWorks, (April 16, 2021) How do Oysters make Pearls?, we learn that “­The formation of a natural pearl begins when a foreign substance slips into the oyster between the mantle and the shell, which irritate­s the mantle. It's kind of like the oyster getting a splinter. The oyster's natural reaction is to cover up that irritant to protect itself. The man­tle covers the irritant with layers of the same nacre substance that is used to create the shell. This eventually forms a pearl.” 
The oyster, by covering the irritant with nacre, is trying to make the irritant bearable but the outcome is truly a unique, beautiful piece of creation. I don’t know about you, but if I have a splinter, I to try to remove it quickly.  Honestly, if I anytime of irritant, I look quickly for a relief.  In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul is speaking about boasting.  In verses 5-7, Paul states, “I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses.  Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say,  or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.”
 Paul was given an irritant to keep him from being conceited. Paul went to our Father.  In verse 8, Paul pleaded with the Lord to take the thorn away but to no avail. The Lord had another reason for that thorn. In verses 9-10 it says, “ But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”  Paul embraced the “thorn” as part of his life, resting in the grace and strength the Lord gave him to endure the thorn.  I try to “run,” get rid of it, avoid the pain, and lessen the time of having to tolerate the irritant.  Yes, I need to seek God for relief or release of the irritant, but if He chooses not to, I need to rest in His grace, which is sufficient for me, to endure the situation and the difficulties it produces. It’s for Christ’s sake in my weakness I am strong.  We have all met people who have suffered so much and testified that it was because of the Lord as in Philippians 4:13 “I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” “Thorns,” when covered with the Lord’s grace, strength to our weakness for His glory and purpose, create a beautiful, one of a kind “pearl” that we can share with others as encouragement with their “thorn.’
The oyster endures the irritant by surrounding it with his own substance, incorporating it into its very being.  As a result, a precious pearl, full of beauty and value is produced.  Could be that by us “hanging tight” to the Lord through irritants in our life, the trials and tribulations that are unwelcome but arrive at our door, the grace of the Lord to have His perfect work in our lives, will produce a life beautiful and honoring of Him? I will always look at my pearls as a reminder of the Lord allowing un-pleasantries to come my way for His glory. An anonymous author said, “What is important with pearls, is the woman who is wearing them.”  Let’s be women full of grace, having a long string of pearls reflective of the work of the Lord in our lives. Blessings, Karen