The Miraculous Birth of a Pearl The birth of a pearl is truly a miraculous event. Unlike gemstones or precious metals that must be mined from the earth, pearls are grown by live oysters far below the surface of the sea. Gemstones must be cut and polished to bring out their beauty. However, pearls need no such treatment to reveal their loveliness. They are born from oysters complete — with a shimmering iridescence, luster and soft inner glow unlike any other gem on earth.
A natural pearl begins its life as a foreign object, such as a parasite or piece of shell that accidentally lodges itself in an oyster’s soft inner body where it cannot be expelled. To ease this irritant, the oyster’s body takes defensive action. The oyster begins to secrete a smooth, hard crystalline substance around the irritant in order to protect itself. This substance is called “nacre.” As long as the irritant remains within its body, the oyster will continue to secrete nacre around it, layer upon layer. Over time, the irritant will be completely encased by the silky crystalline coatings. And the result, ultimately, is the lovely and lustrous gem called a pearl.
How something so wondrous emerges from an oyster’s way of protecting itself is one of nature’s loveliest surprises. For the nacre is not just a soothing substance. It is composed of microscopic crystals of calcium carbonate, aligned perfectly with one another, so that light passing along the axis of one crystal is reflected and refracted by another to produce a rainbow of light and color.
The full birth of who God designed you to be is a miraculous event. Unlike perfect people, God creates us into his image with a fallen nature because of the fall of Adam and Eve. Along your life journey many irritants such as disappointments, broken relationships, lack of self-worth, dysfunctional family traits, addictions, financial issues, thoughts of death, self-hatred, loss of hope, parasites, and many other clingy things seem to collect in the closets of your life. As your life progresses, the illusion of fear and failure are combined to force you to escape or resent the memories of your past, which in turn effect your present and eventually hinder your future.
God has allowed you as an individual to review your collection of irritants in a manner that allows Him to shine light into your past, present, and future, simultaneously. This review allows you to be thankful or exchange the irritants for a re-alignment that perfectly connects your past, present, and future via God’s light. These light rays into your past, present, and future allow you to view the pearl of your life represented by a full rainbow of light and color that connects your past, present and future into the miracle God always intended.
In summary, Marianna Williamson’s quote below sums up what we often see and feel, versus what we were designed and created to become.
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us, it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
