Pressed On Every-Side...

Living in Zimbabwe, you have to put up with long queques, fuel blues, shortages of cash and food stuffs, insane prices e.t.c
Add to that list brutality by the law enforcement agents and you have the slightest idea of the “world” that I am living in at the moment.
The question that’s always whirling up in my mind is; What should my attitude be in the midst of all these anomalies.

I think my response to all the evils is splendidly illustrated by the oyster, into whose shell one day there comes a tiny grain of sand.
By some strange circumstance, this tiny quartz has entered into the shell of the oyster and there like an alien thing…..an intruder….a cruel, unfeeling catastrophe imposes pain and distress and presents a very real problem.

What shall the oyster do?

Well, there are several courses open.
The oyster could, as so many men and women have done in times of adversity and trouble, openly rebel against God.

The oyster, metaphorically speaking, could shake a fist in God’s face and complain bitterly:
“Why should this have to happen to me?”
“Why should I suffer so?”
“What have I done to deserve this?”

“With all the billions of oyster shells up and down the shore, why in the name of higher mathematics did this grain of sand have to come into my shell?”

The oyster could conclude;
“There is no justice. All this talk of a God is not true.
Now since this calamity has overtaken me, I’ll throw away all the faith I ever had. It doesn’t do any good”

Yes, the oyster could say that.
So many men and women in Zimbabwe have done so in times of trouble.
But the oyster doesn’t !!!!!!!!

It recognizes the presence of the grim intruder, and right away begins to do something.
Slowly and patiently, with infinite care, the oyster builds upon the grain of sand –layer upon layer of a plastic, milky substance that covers each sharp corner and coats every cutting edge.
Gradually…..slowly…..by and by a pearl is made…..a thing of wondrous beauty wrapped upon trouble.

The oyster has learned –by the Will of God- to turn grains of sand into pearls
Cruel misfortunes into blessings
Pain and distress into beauty.

There goes the answer to my attitude.
The grace of God, which is sufficient, will enable us to make our troubles the pearls they can become.
It is no mere figure of speech.
It is something more than a simile to say that one enters Heaven through Pearly gates.

“Endure hardship like a soldier”
Act like a believer
Live like a Christian so that you can die like a Christian….
With songs and rejoicing.
That’s the true Christian attitude.

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