Don't Mind Me, I'm Just Making Pearls...

I recently heard an interview with Phyllis Diller, who was talking about comedy and the fact that so many of our beloved creative geniuses come from broken or dark places with dysfunction, neglect and turmoil.  She said “Let me put it this way…it takes an irritation to make a pearl in an oyster.”

I’ve often found the greatest wisdom comes from society’s clowns rather than from serious scholars, theologians or world leaders and there, in that one sentence, Ms. Diller knocked me over with a wrecking ball Reminder of Truth.  It’s not that she said anything new or unheard of, but 1.) she said it in such a way that it registered and 2.) She’s Phyllis Diller, queen of the crazy hair and cackling “Ha!”so the unexpected source was powerful.

Now, I certainly don’t compare myself to the comedians she was talking about.  I come from light, joy-filled places of love.  But she reminded me of an old proverb:

 

It isn't the mountain ahead of you that wears you out - it's the grain of sand in your shoe.

I’ve always loved that one just for the simple truth of it.  We all have sand in our shoes.  We call the grains Obstacles, we call them People, we call them Burdens.  There’s no end to the variety of challenges we meet every day.

The problem with the sand is that it seems insignificant.  The mountain stands before us and is an obvious force to be reckoned with.  No matter what the mountain represents in our lives, it’s there.  It shows itself and allows us to plan how to deal with it.  We can climb it, go around it, turn the other way and walk away from it or just give up and accept that it will always be there, but it doesn’t just creep up and yell “Surprise!”  It’s there and we know it’s there.

The sand, however, goes unnoticed for a while.   When we finally feel it, maybe we think that however it managed to get into our shoe, it’ll find its way out.  So we keep walking.  We don’t stop to think that if ONE grain of sand found its way in, others can, too.  Before long, more sand is there, a blister has formed, and we have no choice but to acknowledge the sand and decide what we’re going to do about it.

 

Any beach lover knows that no two grains of sand are alike.  Some sand is fine – beautiful, even – and will do no harm.  We can walk for miles with fine sand in our shoes with no discomfort and at the end of our walk, it serves as a reminder about where we’ve been.  Other sand is abrasive and starts rubbing us the wrong way immediately.  We notice it.  It’s annoying.  But so often, we think it’ll just go away, or that taking the time to deal with it will slow us down or make us seem petty so we suffer through it.  Sound familiar?

When I think about what Ms. Diller said, I can’t help but to think of it as a Pearl Of Wisdom.  That’s what we say, isn’t it?  When someone hits us with a beautiful truth, don’t we call it a Pearl of Wisdom?  Hmmm.

I’ve learned a lot from the sand in my shoe.  I appreciate the soft fine grains.  I’m not worried about the mountains ahead.  I’m enjoying the walk and have learned to stop and brush off the rough and abrasive grains and keep them from rubbing blisters so I can keep moving.  When I get to my destination (whatever that is), maybe I’ll have a pearl or two for my effort.