Pearls of Wisdom and Beauty

I have always loved pearls. To me they represent wisdom, I see older women wearing pearls and think how beautiful is she. She has seen a lot in her life and just like that pearl has evolve into something beautiful.

Think about it....

What is a pearl?  I am going to share an insert from "How stuff works 'How do oysters make pearls?'" I hate to reinvent the wheel. You can find the original post here.

"Most jewelry is fashioned out of precious metals and jewels that are found buried in the Earth, but pearls are found inside a living creature, an oyster. Pearls are the result of a biological process -- the oyster's way of protecting itself from foreign substances.
Oysters are not the only type of mollusk that can produce pearls. Clams and mussels can also produce pearls, but that is a much rarer occurrence. Most pearls are produced by oysters in both freshwater and saltwater environments. To understand how pearls are formed in oysters, you must first understand an oyster's basic anatomy.
Oysters are bivalves, which means that its shell is made of two parts, or valves. The shell's valves are held together by an elastic ligament. This ligament is positioned where the valves come together, and usually keeps the valves open so the oyster can eat.
These are the parts of an oyster inside the shell:

• Mouth (palps)
• Stomach
• Heart
• Intestines
• Gills
• Anus
• Abductor muscle
• Mantle

As the oyster grows in size, its shell must also grow. The mantle is an organ that produces the oyster's shell, using minerals from the oyster's food. The material created by the mantle is called nacre. Nacre lines the inside of the shell.
­The formation of a natural pearl begins when a foreign substance slips into the oyster between the mantle and the shell, which irritate­s the mantle. It's kind of like the oyster getting a splinter. The oyster's natural reaction is to cover up that irritant to protect itself. The man­tle covers the irritant with layers of the same nacre substance that is used to create the shell. This eventually forms a pearl.
So a pearl is a foreign substance covered with layers of nacre. Most pearls that we see in jewelry stores are nicely rounded objects, which are the most valuable ones. Not all pearls turn out so well. Some pearls form in an uneven shape -- these are called baroque pearls. Pearls, as you've probably noticed, come in a variety of various colors, including white, black, gray, red, blue and green. Most pearls can be found all over the world, but black pearls are indigenous to the South Pacific.
Cultured pearls are created by the same process as natural pearls, but are given a slight nudge by pearl harvesters. To create a cultured pearl, the harvester opens the oyster shell and cuts a small slit in the mantle tissue. Small irritants are then inserted under the mantle. In freshwater cultured pearls, cutting the mantle is enough to induce the nacre secretion that produces a pearl -- an irritant doesn't have to be inserted.
While cultured and natural pearls are considered to be of equal quality, cultured pearls are generally less expensive because they aren't as rare."

So after reading this article...oh my goodness girls....I now understand why I love pearls. Go back and re-read that insert. Do you ever feel like you are an oyster?? Do you feel like life's irritants are just rubbing you raw? I know I am struggling with this daily right now?

Whatever you are struggling with, don't let it wear you down. Know you will become a pearl because of it. And in this it does not matter if you are a cultured pearl or natural pearl, we are all equal....EQUAL. We all have our flaws that are on the inside but we are all pearls on the outside. Each pearl has its own uniqueness about it.

Another thing to think about.

Matthew 13:44 "Or God's kingdom is like a jewel merchant on the hunt for excellent pearls. Finding one that is flawless, he immediately sells everything and buys it."

Let this verse sink in.

When God finds the perfect pearl in you, know that He gave up everything, His only Son, so that you could have everything.

Can you wrap your brain around that one!! Believe it folks!!! It's real.

My hope in starting this blog is to inspire other women that we are all pearls, we all have yucky things we are dealing with daily on the inside. As a women, I can confidently say life is hard, there are a lot of things that we struggle with..but know that we will come out as pearls because of it...I encourage you to be the pearl God is searching for. You never know how He is going to use your wisdom and beauty to inspire someone else.