The milk of human kindness

A while back this column made mention of the “mother of pearl” that oysters create in response to wounds of varied kinds caused by tiny irritants that wedge their way into the oyster’s shell. It is a marvel how the oyster then can turn these grains of sand, undeveloped eggs or parasites into pearls of differing shapes in beautiful colors.

Amidst our varying degrees of hardships we have the scriptures. Reading them indicates for me something akin to the oyster’s effectual secretion within our spiritual journey. Reference is made here to the empowerment of our lives that results through following the instruction in Philippians 4:4 to “Rejoice in the Lord always.”

That passage further instructs, “Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.” That sounds like flexibility . . . rolling with the punches. Still, we do have our times of thinking, “I’ve had it! Something has got to give.”

This happened over the 4th of July. A neighbor began an outdoor “concert” of percussion “music” Saturday morning. It was non-stop until late in the day on Monday. Gary and I heard the constant pounding, for well past two days, to the point of near exasperation. There was no place in the house where we did not hear the “bam, bam, ba-bam” of drums with base tuned high. It was an offensive, continuous detonation of undesirable sounds.

“So, Mother of Pearl, wherefore art thou?” It comes through our praying, first for whoever could be so obnoxious. I decided to forgive rather than to keep harboring castigating thoughts about “those abominate-backwater-bedeviling irritants!” (Oops, I've spilt the “milk.”)

After a while, I was able to say, “Lord, I’m going to be patient. I’ll turn this all over to you, wear my ear buds and see what you can do about it.” (Yes, the police had been called.) I submitted my ire and ilk to God, asking Him to help me be patient so I could wait it out. Then, there was the concern that the police might be too busy to come.” But, in a few hours they did!

Surely, Philippians 4:4, is “the best of milk.” calling us to “thank God for things that are “noble” . . . things that are “just, pure and lovely.” (Keep our minds on the “good stuff.” Why? Because it lifts us up, taking us above our rough spots. The “good reports”—and praiseworthy happenstances do exist. We have only to look for them.

Recalling the Scriptures and changing my thoughts brought the milk of human kindness. Our noisy neighbor, most likely visiting for the holiday, brought prayer to my heart. No wonder pearls are considered to be among the most precious gems. The oyster’s suffering is what created them. There is no doubt our suffering does the same when we hold steady with the truths of scriptures consistently applying these truths to our lives.

We do not have the power to make “pearls” on our own. God helps us to do so when we turn to Him, becoming more reliant on Him for “help.”