From Peril To Pearl

Author : Terry Weber
Near the beach of a South Pacific atoll, on the floor of a secluded lagoon there is a coral reef. One day I went scuba diving there and I was astounded by the size of a bed of oysters I discovered in an almost hidden alcove of the colorful reef. I know some of those oysters have lived there for their whole lifetime - which can be more than thirty years – just doing what oysters do.Being curious, I swam over close to the oyster bed and spoke to one of the largest
of the oysters. I asked him to tell me about his lifetime experiences in that beautiful,
quiet South Pacific lagoon. I fully expected him to tell me his life had been a life of:
peace, tranquility, and exquisite, unsurpassed beauty. To my amazement, his story
was quite the opposite.Son, he/she said (oysters are hermaphrodites), I've had a lot of personal turmoil and
heart-rending trouble down here over all of these years! As I recall, it all started
back when I was a teen-ager…he paused, and I blurted out: TROUBLE! What kind of
trouble could you possibly have – all you do is lay there in that peaceful bed, in your
strong, protective shell with the other oysters day after day, year after year. Tell me
about the trouble you have had, I can't imagine what it could be.Well, son said the aged oyster, with a slow, contemplative voice, one day – as a
youngster, my shell was suddenly contaminated, invaded and irritated by something
foreign. At the time, I didn't know what it was but I knew for sure that it was there,
in my flesh – causing me terrible pain. Later, I discovered it was a grain of sand, a
single piece of ordinary sand. It was to me what I think men like you would call "a
thorn in the flesh". It hurt me with a pain that seemed to radiate into my whole
being, with a terribly painful constant, irritation. I tried to get rid of the grain of
sand by opening my shell to dislodge it with the flow of seawater – but that did not
work, no matter how much I tried I could not get rid of it and the pain was awful to
the point of being - unbearable.Then, said the oyster, I got an idea. I thought of something I could do to at least
ease the pain for a time. Here's what I did. With a supreme effort and force of will I
moved some of my mucous-like nacre - the substance I use when I seal my shell
closed - toward that painful irritant. Slowly, very slowly I was able to surround the
grain of sand completely with my nacre. Immediately, the terrible pain subsided
and after awhile, I had some relief. Then, a few months later, the pain returned. You
might describe it as being like the pain of a terrible toothache. This time, said the
oyster, I knew what to do. I told my system to send another coating of nacre to the
place where the grain of sand was lodged in my flesh. Again, the pain stopped.
Now, I have to admit to you that the pain caused by that grain of sand has been with
me as an ever-constant pain. In short, it has continued to plague and hurt me for
these many, many years of my long life.But now, when I feel the pain beginning again, I know what to do. I send over
another batch of nacre, surround the grain of sand and coat it again. By now, and
this is many years later, there must be hundreds of layers of nacre coating that
irritatingly terrible grain of sand that is still lodged in my flesh like a thorn.Then, the wise old oyster said to me: by the way, would you like to see what that
grain of sand, the source of all of my pain over these many years, looks like? I
wasn't sure what to say, but not wanting to perhaps give him more pain by hurting
his feelings I agreed to let him open his shell and show me what I expected to be a
very ugly wound.Slowly he opened his shell, and there, imbedded in his flesh I saw one of the largest,
most beautiful, iridescent and most perfectly formed spheres I'd ever seen in my
whole life! I
said: Mr. Oyster I want you to know the result of all of your pain and suffering has
created a
treasure that will live forever…it will live in beauty long after your flesh has died!
You should be very proud because, through all of your years of trouble and struggle
to overcome the pain - you have created the most beautiful pearl I've ever seen in
the whole world!Later, as I sat on the beach with sand running through my fingers in the shade of a
palm tree near the edge of that South Seas lagoon, I thought to myself: The old
oyster's story reminds me of the great price of pain and suffering the living Lord
paid for our redemption when he willingly went to the cross for us.As the oyster – a living thing, formed that pearl of great price with its own flesh, so
Jesus with his great sacrifice on the cross can take away our, irritations, our pains -
all of our sins. Then. At our simple request, he gives us everlasting life in eternity
with him - a treasure far more precious than even - a pearl of great price.(Matt: 13:46)Terry Weber is a retired advertising/direct mail sales letter copywriter and
inventor of several useful items. Terry and his wife Doris are Habitat For
Humanity, RV Care-A- Vanners who, for the past eight years have volunteered to
help build more than 39 houses all over the USA. They travel to and from the 2-
week long builds in their RV. The money they make on their Crafty-Ones website
helps them pay their expenses to and from those volunteer Habitat builds.weberanchorsoffaith.com
webermaskman.com
Keyword : pearl,irritant, sand, South Sea, sin, help, story, God, Jesus, cross, everlasting life, eternity