Briars and Pearls

"This pearl has become my soul... If I give it up, I shall lose my soul."
- John Steinbeck, The Pearl, Chapter 5

While growing up I often heard, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.”  This is the oldest English proverb, found in the Old English Homilies from 1175. This idiom means that although you make something available, like good advice, the recipient can choose not to take it.

As a child, I was fascinated by magnets, performing magic to those unaware. You hide a magnet under a pecan shell that is poised atop a cardboard box and a second magnet beneath the box. As you move the hidden magnet below, the pecans shell moves as well. Decorate the pecan shells as different type of insects and when they move about, they can appear as live creatures.

Magnets draw to the positive and to the negative. You can be like that horse when led to things that are positive or negative; you do not have to drink either one. The water is like a magnet:  it gets your attention and draws you to a positive or negative aspect.

Life is a choice. In life, there is a continuous bombardment of influences, negative far more often than positive, through school, work, social media, and even our own thoughts. Consequently, some have become so negatively magnetized that their focus is always on the negative things. Even if this has been the greater extent of their life experiences, it doesn’t have to determine their future magnetism.  Others have discovered balance in their life, learning from the negative and still presenting a positive magnetism. When there are negative encounters, they have learned to appreciate how these life experiences can be used for positive growth.

Looking at life from a different perspective, the negative aspects can be seen as a briar or a grain of sand. When that briar is stuck under the saddle of a horse, it will irritate and aggravate, creating discontentment and a constant bucking. Even when the rider is thrown off the horse, the briar remains; creating callousness and a negativity that will cause others to steer clear. 

If you consider the negativity to be a grain of sand in a clam shell, then you can choose to make the best of the irritant and it becomes a pearl. Life happens and irritants abound, whether they are briars or sands. You have two different ways of making the best of the situation, depending on the outcome you want.

You can surround yourself with those who are negative and live in the negative until you become so callused that life does not seem to have any positive affect. Or, you can surround yourself with those who are positive. How do you become a magnet and draw others to you?

Negative thoughts are like cancer cells that alter good into bad and erode the core of your very being, taking away all you could potentially become. How do you work with negative thoughts and be the horse that can be led, but not drink?

1.       What goes into your mind comes out of your mouth. Negative news, music, media, and gossip can influence your thoughts and before you realize it, you are negative about what you were once positive. Guard your mind by filtering how much negativity you are exposed to.

2.       Try not to change people around you to be positive. Live your life in a positive manner and it might magnetize them to be positive. Sure you have negative times, but you are the clam making the pearl for them to enjoy.

3.       Find at least one positive outlet that you can plug yourself into that will enable you to feel positive.

4.       Being positive does not mean perky. It is what you do with those emotions like the briar and sand that will make the biggest difference between a positive person and a negative one.

You have a choice, perspective makes the difference. Circumstances may be beyond your control, but how you perceive them and respond is not. Lean on the One who can make you into a pearl if you let Him. Positive self-talk can assist you to look on the bright side of things and think clearly. Forgiveness, understanding, grace, and mercy are the foundational keys to living a positive life.  Do you have a briar you are trying to remove? Are you making the pearl?

By Faith (Forging Attitude In Trusting Him)

No Bones About It

I enjoy dogs better than cats; each pet has their own special traits. However, I am partial to dogs. Dogs know when you are upset, lick you silly, and make you laugh. They know where to find things, and sometimes, put things where you don’t want to find them. They are great companions when you go for a walk. Ever see a cat on a leash? Sorry for the feline lovers that read this blog.


Ever seen a dog with a bone? He never wants to let go; if you try getting the bone from him, you can get bit! It is wiser to leave the bone with the dog; it has no value to people.

Why then, do we as human beings want to hold onto our old bones? Some people have quite a collection; enough to make a skeleton. Take one of those bones and let’s see what we get: B.O.N.E Burned Out, Never Ending. We can go from one end to the other and start all over and we still want to hold onto that debilitating bone.

Bones do not seem to go away. We can bury them, toss them, give them away, but they are still around. Travel around in pasture land or in the desert and you will find bleached bones of various animals. They lay as a reminder of what use to be alive.

Starting with childhood, we pick up useless bones on our journey of life that weigh us down. Some call it baggage. Baggage we can always toss, leave in the past, and not remember. Bones abound, though, and often it seems that someone is ready to pick a bone. How we handle our bones will determine if we are rattled by them.

First, we must realize the importance and the significance of our lives. Do we want to flourish? Do we want to be successful? We can be buried with our bones, but the memory lingers on. Our physical bones in our bodies provide the framework and allow our bodies the ability to move with our muscles. Otherwise our bodies would be a blob sloughing on the ground like a snail.

Our emotional bones or “baggage” tend to be an integral part of us. What we do with our bones determine what kind of person we become. When we choose to incorporate forgiveness, for ourselves and others, healing takes place. There is hope when we use the bones to motivate us into doing something better.

We can cremate our bones, but the remnants are still there. Often learning how to "cremate" our thoughts will help us to emotionally heal even though the scars are still there. We are healed by His stripes.

No bones about it: we struggle with letting go of our bones. Sometimes it isn’t about letting go, rather it is learning how to make them work. Sometimes I have to learn it isn’t me working them, it is Him that works them for me. The person I am today is because of all the bones in the past. I am forgiven and walk by using God’s muscle. This is a daily activity, like exercise; when we slack off, we become weak and lose sight of Whose strength is in our bones.

By Faith (Forging Attitude In Trusting Him)