Pearls of Grace

“Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13-14

The other week while I was walking at Folly I rounded the corner and saw this huge pile of oyster shells. They were stacked up and void of any pearls, having no value with their destination being the ocean floor. They smelled foul and they took up space on the ground which would normally offer parking. I couldn’t help but to see this mound of empty contents and broken shells as things in our past.

We allow our broken dreams and sinful seasons to take up space in our hearts. We fail to believe that we are worthy to be forgiven. We hold on to bitterness that leaves a foul smell in our words and attitudes. We fail to see that the oyster shells of our past developed beautiful pearls of our present. We dwell on what was done to us last year instead of being focused on the beauty of today. ‘For some of us, we can’t shake the thought that we might not be forgiven for something we did to someone. Others of us have a hard time forgiving someone who offended, hurt, or greatly violated us. Or, even more often, we can’t seem to forgive ourselves for a past choice or action.’ What Matters Most, Karen Ehman, p. 96.

How can we reach forward to the hope of tomorrow when our hearts are full of the emotions of our past? God promises that when we reach for Him, He will remove our sins as far as the east is from the west. He promises that with the forgiveness He has given us, He will equip us to forgive others. He shows us the example of letting go of yesterday’s troubles to achieve and attain the blessings of today. Christ forgot how mankind treated Him on earth and reached towards the goal of Heaven.

We all have things that pile up from our past, but in Christ we have the invitation and the power to take our loads of broken shells and return them to the ocean floor. It begins with a decision to make space for grace…grace for others and grace for ourselves.