The String of Pearls

After my mother died in 1990, I was the heir to her things she left behind. Other than her wedding ring set, none were of great monetary value, but all were treasured in my heart. One that I deeply cherished was a string of pearls. Mom had worn them regularly to church and functions that took her outside our home, be it PTA or dinners in restaurants. No, she wasn’t June Cleaver of Leave It to Beaver fame, but she loved wearing them!

So, it was an experience of nostalgia every time I wore those pearls in the first days after she was gone. It was while I was wearing that necklace (the “oh honey, just wear a string of pearls and a smile and you will look terrific!” pearls) that it happened! They were well-worn and had become too frayed to hold together. One by one, they rolled across the floor in front of me!
There have been times in my life when I have felt like those undone string of pearls—frayed at the edges, about to lose adhesiveness emotionally; so hurt in my heart over circumstances or relationships that I feel like each facet of my being has rolled across the floor out of my reach and out of my power to control!

My mother’s death was one of those times I felt out of control; I lost her when she was only 62 years old from breast cancer. It is never the right time to lose a parent! There was so much we would miss together: my girls weddings, births of her great-grandsons, and just talking by phone daily. But more recently it has been a daughter who has made devastating choices and decisions that have affected each little pearl in her life (and ultimately, ours): her husband, her boys, her sister, her business, her home, her finances and certainly all of our emotions and hearts.

While we pray for a revival in her heart, we are not in control of it. While we can suggest a plan to help her, we cannot implement it. We can pray and trust the One who can! Only Jesus Christ can restring the pearls of our lives, we cannot. Only He can put us back together. And only Jesus can heal a mother and father’s heart.
*copyrighted 2006