Encouragement

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Is Life An Irritant To You?
© 2006

by

Stephen A. Peterson


It is Sunday morning in Shawnee, Oklahoma and outside rain is about to sweep into this drought stricken state. I know without opening my eyes that rain is on its way because thunder pounds and rails to rattle the windows of the house. I know that the outside temperature is quickly dropping because the leg I broke a few years ago hurts like the dickens! I move around to find a cooler area of the bed without disturbing my better half. At that instance, my bed is more inviting to me than the idea of rising, showering, running out to the car beneath a pounding and relentless hail of raindrops to go to church. As soon as church services are over I planned to read a chapter or two of my favorite book of the Bible—Proverbs, then catch up with the pro football scores on the television and maybe watch a quarter or two and be a dad and husband (very important!).

At that moment of day planning, I recalled the article I had read while surfing the internet a week or so ago. It was about pearls. Did you know that pearls are an irritant to oysters? Natural pearls are impurities formed in an oyster and can be about like a human picking up a rock in one’s shoe. And as surely as I know there is a storm outside my portals that could easily become a tornado, I know something else, as well. Some of those people at Saint Benedict’s will rub me the wrong way or be an irritant—the woman who is critical of the United States military stating it is the real terrorist organization and needs to be disbanded; the young couple who sits near me just about every time I attend Mass chatting and grinning at each other rather than paying attention to God’s Word and Good News, and the uncomfortable room temperature of the church that is generally too warm for me no matter the season—are really polishing me, giving me an opportunity to let my Christianity shine like the pearl Christ talked about as being so valuable that when found the person will sell everything to secure the property where he found it.

I threw back the comforts of my bed and blankets and hurried to shower and prepare myself for whatever the Lord has in store for me this rainy day to celebrate His Resurrection Day—Sunday.

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