The Beauty of Pearls

By: Deborah R.

Interesting thing about pearls is that they are oldest known gem, and for many centuries it was considered the most valuable. Unlike all gems, the pearl is organic matter derived from a living creature - oysters and mollusks.

There is much folklore and tradition about the pearl. It was said in some early cultures that the pearl was born when a single drop of rain fell from the heavens and became the heart of the oyster. Pearls have been called the 'teardrops of the moon'. Some believe that pearls were formed by the passage of angels through the clouds of heaven.  Whether true or not, thinking about angels passing through the clouds of heaven is a comforting thought to the soul.

Recently, I have received two gifts that are made up of pearls.  I’m really not a jewelry person but I do like pearls.  There is something about them that draws me.  For our two year anniversary, my husband gave me a pearl ring that has small diamonds around it.  I love it!  To me it is the classic beautiful representation of simplistic eloquence.  Not too showy just right for me.

Within the same week, a friend gave me a gift that was very special and unique.  It was a two-stranded pearl necklace.  These are not your usual pearls.  These are pearls that have not been touched by the tools of man.  They are in their natural state; all different sizes, colors and shapes.  They are called baroque pearls.  This is the note that came with them.

“God wanted me to tell you to look at each pearl-different sizes, colors and shapes all with deep and different scars.  These pearls are 100% real and trash by jewelers standards.  They’ve been broken, then fixed by a pair of hands that love you very much.  Remember a group of trash unified in one true purpose creates a new beauty never before seen.  God wants you to remember he sees your beauty inside and out…through and through.”

The process of forming these pearls….you can see the lines that run through them.  Each one distinctly unique and has it’s own story of how it was formed all due to an irritation; created from a living creature.  Think about a microscopic particle being lodge in the lining of a shell.  Although the mollusk becomes irritated, it takes that irritation and in the process of protecting it’s delicate interior it produces a rare and valuable gem.

Our lives are the same way, unfortunately, many of us we don’t produce gems out of the irritations of life.  Why should we?  Maybe to us it’s just a rock or a stone but someone else, it becomes a priceless gem. 

What has been or is an irritation in your life?  Are you dealing with it the way the world tells you to or are you applying the Word of God to it?  Not just pulling it out and discarding with no value but wrapping that irritation with the gentleness of the Holy Spirit and soothing it with scripture.  If we keep doing this over and over every time it irritates us, maybe, just maybe we’ll be able to gain from it. 

What gems do you have from life to put in your crown?  What gems have you cultivated?  What gems have you left behind because to them was too hard?  Or maybe you thought it would cost you too much?  Matthew 7:6, "Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.”  Pearls are very rare precious gems.

We all have been given different gems to cultivate…take up your tools and begin to work!  1 John 4:4, You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

Comments

[Penny Alt]

I love this article. pearls start as just a granual and as time passes and they are compressed into something beautiful. Just as we are merely a human but as time passes and the Lord compresses us with His love and His Word we are transformed into a beautiful object, each different and unique. Some do break and need repaired by His love.

Penny Alt
New Haven, IN.