Knowing This Pearl

As a person who is fairly joyful and finds hilarity out of the smallest of things, I find it most difficult starting off my first blog with the most truthful phrase "Today was a rough day."  I would prefer people not to read, groan, stop reading and go to the next site, never to return for the fear of having to read sob stories after sob stories.

However, because I am an honest person who is horrible at lying (yet wonderful at being dramatic), I will start off my blog the way it must.

Today was a rough day.  Struggling with the unknown future is a hard struggle.  Struggling with my future, having no coffee beans in the house, running out of [good] coffee grounds at work, once again being locked out of my office, shattering a coffee mug that was bought from a tourist store eight hours away that I had never been to, trying [and mostly failing] to set up a semi-cool looking blog [xanga is not at its prime anymore] and having to step back in humility from a position I am used to having, all happening before 1:00pm leads to one big cry-fest for me.

While I do not particularly enjoy such chains of events, I do love one thing about them.  They leave me at the end of myself and I am absolutely forced to go crawl in my Daddy's lap.  So, I did.  And, crazily [not so crazily if you go there a lot], He wrapped me up in some of His peace and grace and told me to look upon Him, to gaze upon His character for awhile.  So, I slowly whipped out my Bible and turned to the parable that had "randomly" dropped into my head earlier in the day: the man and the pearl of great price.


In Matthew 13, there is a man in the fields.  I figure he must either be a farmer, a gardener or a "crazy" wandering around and digging about in the dirt.  I like to think he is the crazy man because I identity with that one the best.  Anyways, this man stumbles upon this rare pearl that was of monstrous price.  It was worth some much that the man hid it, joyfully stumbled back to his home, sold everything and went to go buy the entire field.

Two interesting quick facts: 1.The fact that he hid it again and didn't just take it like most people affirms my theory of him being crazy.  2.A pearl is the size of a small marble.  The fact that he bought the entire field, not just the small parcel it was hidden in, is significant of how much value the pearl had.


When I first read through this, I wondered, why did he hid it?  Why didn't he just take it [my crazy theory is sufficient only to my shallow entertainment]?  Why?  Well.  He hid it again, deep down in the soil, because he wanted to protect it from a thief who could pick-pocket it right out of him.  He wanted to be the only one who ever had the chance of laying eyes on it.  He was selling everything for it: his computer, his tv, his space heater, his leather couch and feather bed. He was even getting ready to drop his 401K plan and disappoint his parents. There was no chance that he was going to let that puppy get away from him.  But why?  Why go through all of that trouble for the sake of something the size of a marble?  Because he understood.  He understood the value it, the great price, the unimaginable wealth that the pearl would bring him later on.  


Earlier in the chapter, Jesus said that those who hear and see Him but don't understand will have their beliefs and "convictions" snatched right out of their hearts.  These people are those who carried away the pearl, loosely handled it and didn't bury it deep.


Though it doesn't say he did, I'm sure the man went back to the field often, making sure the pearl was still there, making sure he wasn't hallucinating.  When your in the moment, selling your refrigerator full of iced tea, ham and muenster cheese for something far off in a field can be a difficult experience.  That's why it's so important to know, to understand the great price of the Pearl.  To keep on going back, always seeking it out, always returning for the grace of knowing how precious and magnificent it is.


Forgive me for the very looong, first post.  I think I did pretty well considering I feel that I could preach a whole sermon on this subject.  I am hoping that my following posts will be a little more easy on the eyes.   Either way, the comfort of your eyes will not even begin to stop me as I begin this worldly-absurd, slightly terrifying and highly adventurous journey of leaving it all behind for the Pearl of great price..