Mother-of-Pearl

I want you to think of something you are struggling with, a problem or issue.  It could be a person, a situation, a condition, an attitude, etc.  Hold that in your mind as we explore the following thoughts. 

My five year old asked me one day why there had to be hard things—like mosquitoes.  “Why can’t all the mosquitoes die?” he asked.  Life is full of good things; therefore, it must also be full of hard things, things that hurt and that we wish for deliverance from. Lehi told Jacob about this when he said their “must needs be an opposition in all things”.  Nephi must have been nearby during this exchange because deliverance from hard things is something he talks about: “But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance” (1 Nephi 1:20).”

Okay, so that says that the faithful receive God’s tender mercies, and these blessings make them mighty even to the power of deliverance.  And since we want deliverance this is good news, but how do we prove faithful to God?  The key is in a line of the hymn Praise to the Man: “Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven.”  Sacrifice is the key to deliverance.  However, deliverance isn’t always when we want, or how we want.   In fact, sometimes it doesn’t come until the final hour, the last moment, until after we have demonstrated we are willing to sacrifice all that God requires.  Imagine what it would be like if every time you had a problem and prayed for God to remove it that He did. Would you grow as much?  What if He told you exactly how long something hard would last?  Would you continually rely on Him and develop the faith necessary to endure to the end? 

In my own life I have learned that it is easier for me to find strength to face something hard than it is to patiently endure the unknown.  Move there? . . .Fine.  Handle this? . . . Okay.  Patiently wait? . . . Seriously?  It is like getting a shot.  The nurse will usually say, this will feel like a little prick and you’re thinking, “Yea, right!”  But in reality, it really is just a small moment of pain—it’s the waiting that kills us.

It is one thing to deal with an inevitability; quite another to wait and wonder what is going to happen and patiently trust that it will all work out.

Let me site an example in Abraham sacrificing his son Isaac.   Here was a righteous, good man that has waited over half of his life to have this boy, and when he finally has him the Lord commands him to sacrifice Isaac.  I don’t think we can appreciate how hard this was for Abraham unless we understand his background better.  Abraham when he was young lived in a very wicked place called the Ur of Chaldea.  He was born into a family that had the right to the priesthood, but his father had not lived worthy to hold that power because he got caught up in the idol worship that plagued the greater Mesopotamia region where they lived.  In fact, in his town, three beautiful virgins were sacrificed on an altar because they would not blindly bow down and worship idols.  In the Pearl of Great Price we see a visual depiction of Abraham himself being offered up by his father on an alter to be slain by a wicked priest as a worthy sacrifice to their pretended gods.  Thankfully, an angel who we learn is Jesus Christ intercedes at the last moment saving Abraham who promptly gets out of town and on with his life. So just imagine the confusion and inner turmoil created when Abraham is asked to basically do the same thing to his son in righteousness that was done to him out of wickedness. Picture this father strapping the wood to the back of his only son he and his wife Sarah have had, and watching that obedient and dutiful son carry that wood to the top of a hill knowing that he would be laid down upon an altar and offered up for the sins and transgressions of his family.  Visualize the horror that filled his mind as Isaac asked, “Where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” and having to tell him that “God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering.”  Imagine the tears that traced their cheeks as father and son yielded to the will of God, and Abraham bound Isaac, stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay Isaac.  Then think of the joy that flooded their souls when at the last second an angel interceded commanding Abraham not to kill his son.   

That day, Abraham did not have to sacrifice his son, though he demonstrated he was willing to, because two thousand years later our Father in Heaven would provide a lamb.  He had to watch his Only Begotten Son carry to the top of a hill the wood to which he would be affixed for the sins and transgressions of His family. 

My dear friends, life is hard but none of us have it as hard as our Older Brother.  He has borne the brunt of the load, so why should we obtain cheaply what cost God so dearly?  I’ve learned that Heavenly Father is grateful for what you are willing to give, but He’s more interested in what you are holding back.  As I’ve taught my Laurels, every unused talent, sin and offense we have is like a stone we carry on our back.  Maybe it is the way we treat our family members, maybe it is the language we use, the music we listen to, the gossip we say, the service we hold back, the forgiveness we won’t offer, the ability we won’t share. I hadn't thought about it until recently but fear and mistrust can be stumbling stones that trip us up more than anything, for me at least they can be. Whatever it is, every time we lay one of those stones down at the feet of the Savior he takes it and carefully adds it to those we have already offered him.  Those stones form an altar upon which we stone by stone, line upon line, here a little and there a little sacrifice the life we want for the life Christ needs us to live.  What rocks are you carrying around?  What are you withholding from him?  Can you say as King Limhi’s father stated, “I will give away all my sins to know thee.” (Alma 22:18)  

Are we willing to sacrifice what we want for the deliverance we need?

Colton and I were reading about oysters recently and learned the following:

“Sometimes a grain of sand will get between the oyster’s shell and its skin.  This irritates the oyster.  So it makes a pearly material to surround the grain of sand.  In this way, over a few years, a pearl is formed.” (Dolphins at Daybreak, Mary Pope Osborne, pg. 61)

Oysters in and of themselves are not rare and valuable; in fact, almost all species of shelled mollusks have the ability to produce a pearl given a grain of sand, but the prized pearl, the ones most sought after come from a certain type of creature in a specific way:

“A "natural pearl" or "wild pearl" is one that forms without any human intervention at all, in the wild, and is very rare.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl) Something of exceptional beauty and worth—the pearl of greatest price as it were occurs as a natural process out in the wild world.  May I be so bold as to assert that there is a pearl undiscovered worth far more than anything as of yet unearthed just waiting for time and trial to reveal its grandeur:  

YOU

In Psalms it says: "our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace” (Psalms 144:12)

You my dear loved one are the pearl of greatest price in the ocean of existence.  You are valued, you are important, you are rare and exquisite.  The very things we hate and beg for deliverance from, the things that break our hearts and drive us to our knees in agony and cause us to cry out “Why God, why?” are the things that will form of our lives a magnificent gem.  Have no fear as you submit to this shaping, albeit irritating process. You will come out polished, a palace of perfection.   

Opposition is sandpaper to the soul.  It wears itself out in the Master Carpenter’s hands as He polishes you smooth.

Let us boldly apply at the throne of grace for the strength to endure our grains of affliction and torment.  Let us remember that as Abraham was promised posterity numberless as the sands of the sea, every sand in our sea of life is numbered and necessary.  Let us understand that perfection, or wholeness comes through brokenness of heart, contriteness of spirit, submissiveness of the soul.  Do not fear pain; rather, use it.