Pearls in Progress

As I am wrapping a beautiful pair of earrings for one of this year's Christmas gifts, I am reminded of the Christmas short story I read yesterday in the car where a father, who has been absent from his home for some time, returns to his home and his children on Christmas Eve.  The children believe he is Kris Kringle, a bittersweet moment for the father.  He presents both children with gifts, including a stunning strand of pearls to his daughter.  The father explains that pearls form from something irritating that enters an oyster's shell, which is eventually made into a pearl.

The pearl is another reminder of how God takes things that are irritating and makes them into something far more beautiful than could ever be imagined.

I often ask God to remove the irritating things in my life, the things that don't go according to my plan or make me uncomfortable.  Perhaps instead, I should accept them with the knowledge that, in time, He will use that irritant to create a thing of beauty in my life.  How many pearls do I lack because I asked Him to remove the irritating things or that I simply avoided all together?

I'm sure the oyster doesn't enjoy the pearl-making process, as I'm sure none of us enjoy the things in life that drive us crazy.  And, I'm sure the oyster probably doesn't think the whole pearl-making process, which for it is the process of protecting itself from the irritant with coats of nacre, is quite fast enough.  It takes layer after thin layer of nacre to make a pearl.  It is the same for us.  Little by little, bit by bit, God changes the irritant into a pearl that shows His divine plan, His ability to take the irritating, the annoying, the painful, the unwanted parts of life and make them into something unique and beautiful.