Loving Each Other Deeply

1 Peter 4:8  Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

Do you know how a pearl is formed? A grain of sand, or some foreign substance, getting entrance within the shell of an oyster, hurts its sensitive body, which, having no power to expel the cause of pain; covers it with a secretion, and by degrees rounds off all sharp angles, molds it into a sphere, and finishes it with a polished surface. Thus it accepts the inevitable presence as a part of its life, and when it dies yields up, shaped and perfected, a perfect gem, lovely with the tints of the skies, a jewel whose worth is far beyond the pain that gave it existence.

In the same way, God often introduces into our lives an element of discomfort, unrest, or suffering--a thorn in the flesh that cannot be plucked out, a burden that must be borne, a daily cross not to be laid down. Some souls thus dealt with chafe against the trial; they contend with it till their sensibilities are lacerated by its cruel edges, and their hearts become morbid and bitter. They make its presence one long perpetual pain and poison.

Others, recognizing the trial as Heaven-sent, and therefore not to be escaped, accept it, not with joy, indeed, but with meekness; and though it press hard and sharply, they wear it with a sweet patience that, day by day, enables them to carry it more easily. It even becomes the source of an inward development, the growth of a grace which at the last proves to be the crowning, adorning attribute of their character, the especial quality which, rounded out to perfect symmetry, reflects the beauty of heaven.