Pearls for 2025
Pearls from oysters are formed when irritants or bacteria slip into the mollusk. The oyster then naturally goes into self-protective mode and discharges a carbonate mineral known as aragonite, a crystal-form mineral, and a strong protein known as conchiolin (which is the same protein to form its shell). These substances intercede and battle the intruder (irritant or bacteria) protecting the mollusk, which eventually forms a pearl. The pearl forms over time, in some instances, years, even. But once formed, they are magnificent.
In this same way, God intercedes within our lives. As we ring in the new year of 2025, take time to reevaluate all the ways God pruned and refined you so that you are made new in His image. What areas in your life did you find struggle and trials? What did you lay at the feet of Jesus? And when you laid it at His feet, did you retrieve it back from His feet? Remember, God is faithful, and when you place your faith and trust in Him, He will bring healing and restoration. Entering 2025, may He help and guide you away from former things that hinder your growth in Him.
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” (Isaiah 43:18-19, NIV).
Just as oysters viciously and aggressively rough away bacteria and irritant to protect itself, thereby a magnificent and beautiful pearl forms — God, too allows some of the trials and challenges in our lives to refine us and shape us into something more beautiful and magnificent than what we may have been before or during the trial. Through Christ and His refinement, we are more resilient, our faith is stronger to endure and overcome future trials. However, when we allow God to work in us, when we bring sorrow and pain at His feet, we must not pick it up, and trust that He is faithful to bring healing and restoration — we must not dare look back and pick it up. Remember what happened to Lot’s wife when she looked back at Sodom after giving them instruction to escape with their lives: “But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and became a pillar of salt” (Genesis 19:26, ESV). God will shed away the old to bring the new, and although the battle may be rough and aggressive just as it is for the oyster to make its pearl, we must trust in the beautiful metamorphosis that comes in the end of it all. “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14, NIV).
Although, some of us have suffered in the previous year, faced horrendous and tormented times, may God redirect our broken spirits back to Him, may His word be the light to our feet and a light to our path (Psalm 119:105). Hold the faith and assess the ways God has grasped you away from the pits of your darkness throughout the old year. Move forward with the assurance that God will guide you every step of the way. He is the way, the light, and the truth (John 14:6). With the assurance and love of God, may you face the new year with hope and strength, obtaining unwavering faith in Christ. And when you feel at your lowest, residing in the darkest despair of your life, remember the oyster in its most aggressive and vicious battle fighting away irritants, resisting detestable bacteria, at times taking years to come out victorious, beautiful pearl in hand — remember that Christ is refining us in the same way. Our suffering isn’t in vain when we trust in Him. After the fight He carried us through, we become more courageous, more solidified, and stronger in His foundation after the storm. There is peace, beauty, strength, forgiveness, and joy on the other side of our pain — we become a beautiful and magnificent pearl in Christ.
May you enter the new year with new hope. Don’t look back. Strive forward in Christ. Happy New Year, fellow brothers and sisters. May Christ keep you close as you grow from the old.
References:
“A Brief History of Pearls: How Pearls Form in the Oyster”, American Pearl (https://www.americanpearl.com/historyoyster.html)
“The True Story Behind How Pearls Are Made”, Abigail Eisenstadt, Smithsonian Magazine (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/national-museum-of-natural-history/2021/08/05/true-story-behind-how-pearls-are-made/)