From The Purple Cellar...

In one of his parables Jesus described a merchant who went searching for fine pearls. But along the way, the merchant found a pearl that was more valuable than anything he'd found yet, so he went and sold all he had to buy it. We all have a pearl like that, something we'd given anything to possess. But it may not be the pearl that Jesus was talking about. Maybe the one pearl we're searching for is a spouse. Or maybe it's an improvement on the spouse we have. Maybe it’s a new job or a better house.

Inevitably, though, there is no guarantee that pearls of this sort are going to come our way.The pearl of marriage might never come along or, if it does, it might turn out to be a pearl with little luster. The pearl of great talent might never find an outlet--something or someone comes along and takes away the opportunity to use it. Or despite the care and diligence we devote to maintaining the pearl of good health, it remains elusive.There is only one pearl we can be sure of possessing—the kingdom of heaven. And from Jesus' parable we see that getting hold of it is worth everything else we have. We nod our heads in agreement, but do we really believe it? And something else to consider: is this the pearl we really want? If we do, we will invest our lives in it.

Jesus tells us that God's kingdom is greater than any treasure, any blessing, anything else we will ever know. It is worth whatever it may cost us, including the other pearls we want so desperately and think we need. As Christian women, we agree with that in principle, but if we're honest, we have to admit we don't pursue it wholeheartedly. We want the other pearls too much. But that's why many of us live in a state of chronic disappointment. But offering God our disappointments is an act of selling what we have to purchase that one pearl. Each and every time something threatens to steal our peace, we can stop what we are doing and open that raw painful place to God. Sometimes a brief but honest prayer is all we can manage. As often as possible, we sit with his Word open before us, asking him to reveal himself in our struggle. The more we see, the more we will want. Before we know it, we will find ourselves wanting him even more than we want those other pearls. He himself will be the peace we have been wanting all along. He is faithful to us in this way. It has been said, and truthfully so, that sometimes we don't know God is all we have until God is all we've got.

view Lydia's entire blog The Purple Cellar