I have this amazing friend who writes the most beautiful poetry! This was her 2004 Christmas gift to her friends....

The Pearl
By Renee Roberts

The oyster was annoyed.
Nothing seemed to be going right.
Often he felt frustrated, alone and

Afraid.

He tried hard to remember better days.
But, the carefree laughter and easy smiles
Of his childhood was now just a fleeting

Memory.

He was consumed with guilt and gloom, as if he'd been
Swallowed up in a dark cloud of misery and anguish.
What was the point of life and was his so

Difficult?

Each trial was replaced with something more challenging.
Already exhausted and unsure of himself, he wondered if and
When he would ever get to take a break. Life just wasn't

Fair.

And here he was already in the middle of the next big ordeal.
Not to mention that it was perhaps the hardest one he'd faced yet!
Silently he began an earnest prayer for

Courage.

Resolutely and with every last ounce of energy that he possessed,
He tried once again to loosen the grain of sand that was now trapped inside him.
He was so very uncomfortable; however, his efforts were all in

Vain.

In fact, as he struggled and thrashed about, the grain became even more deeply embedded.
Days, weeks, and months went by and although he did not understand what good
Could possibly come from his suffering, he continued to live his life in faith and

Trust.

In his heart he knew that he wouldn't be forgotten.
He also believed that the terrible things he'd experienced –
If he endured them well- would somehow result in true joy and

Happiness.

It was this thought he clung to each night as he fell asleep.
Slowly, throughout the many years of the oyster's life, due to
Constant pressure, the grain of sand began to

Change.

No longer viewed as an annoyance, the oyster concentrated
On turning the trial once thought of as an imposition and a curse into a blessing,
Knowing that the refiner's fire would produce something that was most

Precious

This Christmas season I want to thank you for our friendship:
A relationship built by sharing both times of sorrow and delight.
To me, it is something even more beautiful and valuable than

Pearls.