Strands of Pearls

When I consider my life from my birth to my death, it will be the string upon which God has placed pearls of different shapes, sizes, and colors. These pearls are the people that have been friends or family. Their size and their beauty have nothing to do with their physical appearance, but everything to do with the amount of time they have been in my life and how much they have influenced me.

Parents, grandparents, and children are the largest and brightest pearls on my string of life. They have been much closer to me for a much longer time than most others I’ve come in contact with. These jewels aren’t always the smooth, round, opulent orbs that we see in a jewelry store, cradled in a velvet box. These pearls have irregularities, more like fresh water variety of pearls, yet they are still iridescent and glow brightly, stored safely in the vault of my mind. Their beauty has been tempered by time and by love. Even though some of these pearls have now gone on to meet their Maker, I can still see them and feel their presence in my life.

In my strand, there are a few off-color pearls, perhaps not the choices that I would have desired, but for some reason they are there. They are pearls that a jewelry maker would have tossed aside and not placed on a string. These rougher, less couth or less polished pearls were placed on my strand, adding interest if not beauty to the whole of my life. Some have worn my strand in places while some I’ve been able to polish, refine, and make shinier.

It is odd that my thoughts wandered down this path at all. Someone mentioned the word pearl and my mind began to recall the women that I’ve known who were named Pearl. I was going to write about them. The first Pearl was a Sunday school teacher and soprano in the church choir. I can recall this plum woman as a child. Then, there was the influence of my wife Cynthia’s grandmother, Pearl Agnes Johnson. These women were who I’d planned writing about. And then my mind was whisked away from the influence that these women had on my life to the influence that others have had as well.

I want to thank all of the pearls that have been a part of my strand of pearls no matter how large or small you think you have been. To those who have passed, to those who are no longer close, and for those who are near, you still shine beautifully as I see you in my mind.