Inspiration Station - The Pearls of Great Value Part 1

How do you respond when life throws unexpected challenges your way? On this episode of the All Purpose Pod, we reflect on the wildfires devastating California and express our heartfelt support for those affected. These events remind us of life's unpredictable nature and emphasize the importance of staying connected with loved ones. Inspired by the natural world, we examine how pearls are formed—a process that begins with a tiny grain of sand irritating an oyster, which then coats it in layers of nacre to protect itself, transforming it into something beautiful. This serves as a powerful metaphor for our personal growth in the face of adversity.

Join us as we explore the concept of resilience and self-protection, encouraging you to think about your own reactions to the unexpected "foreign elements" that enter your life. We delve into stories like that of Jesus and Judas to illustrate embracing challenges with an open heart. Learn how to cultivate a mindset that not only shields but also transforms adversity into strength, leading to a better version of yourself and, ultimately, the world around you. Let's embark on this journey of creating positive change together.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:36

Thank you, welcome back to the All Purpose Pod for an all-purpose life. Wherever you are and however you're listening to the Call Me, mr U and the Inspiration Station. Thank you for making us part of your week. Glad to be back with you, guys. As you may well know, we have a lot going on in our world. I want to give our prayers and thoughts, and continue to do so, for the state of California. The death toll is rising and the fires are just seemingly out of control to the point where they're seeing fire tornadoes, which is like epic destruction that's taking place. So we are definitely our hearts are with the people of California. I got some family out there who I have not heard anything from since it started. So hopefully you're not in that same place, but check on your loved ones, check on your people. There's a lot going on and I hear some of the chatter about people who kind of feel like you know all the rich folks and Hollywood types, you know they earn this, but nobody deserves to go through anything like this. So we're going to squash that right here and right now. But I want to kind of just put that out there before we start talking about what we're going to talk about really quickly today. First of all, thanks for joining us. Thanks for listening, your support, your comments, your financial support. It's a blessing to us. We definitely appreciate. It Helps us continue to keep going and doing what we know we're here to do. Beyond just inspiring you and encouraging you is to begin to help us start thinking differently, having a better version of us out here in this world, to change a lot of what we see. In short, short, be the change we want to see and that's all within our goal.

Speaker 1: 2:26

I want to talk to you about pearls today. I did a little research on how a pearl is actually formed. It's pretty cool. I watched this growing up on nature and stuff. I kind of just got away from you over the years. But a pearl is developed when a granular sand you know how small a granular sand is, it's so minute, it's almost a little bit above microscopic it gets inside an oyster shell and what happens is there is a substance that forms around the granule, almost as a means of the oyster protecting itself and keeping the granule whatever this foreign element is from doing harm to the shell, and it begins to form into a pearl. It's really deep. I don't know if we can get into all the science of it, but essentially a pearl is formed as a means of self-protection, and I just love this because the story of the pearl is really a story about self-protection.

Speaker 1: 3:30

Whenever foreign elements get into our life or into our hearts, into our mindset, how do we respond? How do we react to that foreign element in our life? Excuse me, a lot of the times we embrace it and we allow it to sit, maybe perhaps unchecked, maybe perhaps we allow it to fester and do all it's going to do and we don't focus on it because we're so busy with other things. Or sometimes we immediately recognize that something is wrong, something is different in our life, in our season, in our situation, and we immediately begin to look toward that foreign element, that new thing that was introduced, and then we start asking some questions or we begin to start attacking our area to make sure that we stay where we need to be. Again. It's a story of self-protection, don't get me wrong on that. We can't turn love off or we can't tell ourselves you know what, I don't care about that person anymore, I don't love that person anymore. We can say that. And people who ascribe to that kind of mindset, who can decide when to love and when not to love? They've been probably some of the darkest of places and I don't envy them at all. I don't want to be where they are.

Speaker 1: 4:53

Jesus Christ himself had 12 among him that he called, and he knew that one of them was essentially a shepherd for the devil, and he knew it. And he still allowed that man to not only be amongst them, to be in the midst a witness to miracles, be a witness to ministry, to people being healed and whole, but he also allowed that person to be over all of the finances that they accrued during their three-year ministry. And he knew all this in advance. What does that say to you? What it says to me, and maybe, if you don't ascribe to this, I totally understand. No harm, no foul. But if you don't mind indulging me for a second, I want to share something really quick. What that tells me is that Judas, knowing who Judas was, knowing what he was going to do in advance, still embraced him as a brother, still loved him like a father and still allowed him to be in his midst, in his presence, and be able to eat at his table, sleep in his comfort and in his peace and reap all of the benefits that they all received as a team, as a community, as a ministry effort.

Speaker 1: 6:17

What does that mean to you? When there's a foreign element in your life, like that granular sand in the oyster shell, how do you respond? Do you try to protect yourself and not allow that element in? What, if that element is foreign to you? But it's not a bad thing, it's not a harm to you. Think about that, because a lot of us are in survival mode. We're in self-protection mode. Anything that comes into our life that's different from our routine, that breaks the habits that we've grown accustomed to, we immediately rebel against it. We go into self-protection mode, mode, we go into a shelter, so to speak, and we push out anything else that gets in the way of what we're comfortable with, what we like our preference.

Speaker 1: 7:11

Jesus didn't do that with judas. He invited him into his family, into his life. He called him one of his own. In that, judas had an opportunity to look at what he was surrounded by, what he was blessed to have in his life, and decide if he wanted to embrace that or embrace the other inclination that he had inside of him. What am I saying to you in this short period of time what I'm really trying to say here hopefully I'm saying it without being too clunky what I'm trying to say here is that there's nothing wrong with guarding your heart. There's nothing wrong with watching out for things that are foreign.

Speaker 1: 7:57

My only challenge to you today to keep it brief and to keep it short. My only challenge today is to not allow your desire for self-protection or, even worse, your fear of change, your fear of growing, your fear of stepping out into new areas, embracing new challenges. Don't let that fear keep you from accepting something that may be foreign to you but may actually be good for you. It may be helpful for you, it may be beneficial for you, it may be a blessing to you down the line because you embrace this new idea, this new concept, maybe this new person in your life, maybe even a new understanding of this life that we live, whatever it is. Don't throw away all the foreign elements because they're foreign to you. Evaluate that on a case-by-case basis, but recognize that some foreign elements in your life, some new things in your life, are not always for your bad, but they're for your good, wherever you are and however you.

Speaker 1: 8:59

Listen to me, harvey, mr U and the Inspiration Station thanks again for making us a part of your week. Hope to talk to you again real soon. If you have any comments or questions about this episode, drop it in the comments section. Love to hear your thoughts. Have a great day. We really really do appreciate you, guys. We'll see you next time.