On the Minister's Mind
"It is the dab of grit that seeps into an oyster’s shell that makes the pearl, not pearl-making seminars with other oysters." - Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
When I read this quote by author Stephen King, I chuckled at the ironic truth of his wisdom! As we gather in spiritual community, we learn a whole lot about how to live a life of love and light, compassion and creativity. We study ancient sacred texts and modern spiritual teachings and everything in between, gathering information and nuggets of insight. However, it is not until we face some real-life challenging situations that we get to put it all into practice and start “making pearls.”
I don’t know about you, but life has given me more than a dab of grit to work with along the way! As I mingle with all kinds of people and listen to the divisive talk that seems to be everywhere, I find myself constantly choosing between fear and hope. Often, I just want to scurry to places where I can be with like-minded people, comforted by the familiarity and ease of communication. However, I think I make more pearls when I stay in the middle of all of it and do my spiritual practice.
To make a pearl, I take a bit of grit – maybe an off handed rude remark, an unexpected diagnosis, a disappointing legal decision, or blatant disrespect for differences, or whatever – and allow compassion to rise up within me, coating the grit with tolerance and patience. I try to remind myself that I don’t know about the life of the people involved and their motives. I don’t know the road ahead and the direction this might take me or others.
We can remind ourselves that other people try to solve problems with fear-based responses, even when we strive to solve them with love-based responses. I can coat the grit with prayers of healing love and know that I can only do my part in the situation and ask Spirit to do the rest.
The grit can be bathed in faith, knowing my path is always guided by my soul and every detail is showing up for my growth and development. And the more I coat the grit with my faith, the closer I get to incorporating the grit into the pearlescence that colors my life.
But, don’t get me wrong, I love being around other “oysters” who are also busy making pearls out of the grit in the world! You can call it a seminar, a Sunday celebration, a class or just a fun gathering, but I love my fellow oysters who encourage me to keep coating the grit that we find along the way!