I loved speaking to an amazing group of high school girls at Cypress Creek High School this week. It was their “Girls in Pearls” program, and the girls were dressed to impressed, rocking their pearls! Beautiful!
Pictured L-R: Cypress Creek High School Girls in Pearls, speaker and author Laura Gallier (beautiful blonde in the middle!) and me (rocking a sock bun … lol!)
If you were one of the girls (and teachers, and school counselor Courtnie who was amazing in helping to coordinate the event), seriously, y’all looked stunning!
As the keynote speaker, I wanted to share a timeless message, something practical that the girls could apply to their lives today and take with them for later. The pearl is a perfect symbol for high school, with your whole life ahead of you! There’s so much potential! The world is your oyster. And of course, just like with a pearl, the process doesn’t happen overnight.
In the oyster, it’s a grain of sand that irritates and begins the pearl process. In our lives, it can be people or situations that cause irritations that begin the process for us.
The oyster coats those grains of sand or “irritations” with nacre, a liquid that hardens. Eventually, the irritation becomes a beautiful jewel.
In our lives, there’s no doubt there will be irritations. The question is, are we going to coat them? And by that, I mean are we going to C.O.A.T. them?
C: Call it what it is!
O: Own it!
A: Act on it!
T: Transform it!
You do that and BAM! You started with a problem and now you have a pearl.
Of course, we need to remember that we are pearls in progress … it takes time. But the next time something comes up in your life that is an “irritation,” try to C.O.A.T. it!
C-Call it what it is. Recognize that there is an irritant and you need to do something about it. Sometimes that means getting help for substance abuse, or talking to a trusted grown up about whatever issues are happening in your life.
O-Own it. Don’t shift the blame on someone else.
A-Act on it. If you have to make a change, apologize, forgive, whatever it is you have to do, do it!
T-Transform it. That’s what you’re doing this whole time! You’re taking the irritant — what’s causing you pain, what’s bothersome, the very thing that can help you become a better person … and transforming it into a PEARL by COATING it! Call it what it is, own it, act on it and transform it!
This last step of transforming can take time because, I’ll say it again, the PEARL PROCESS TAKES TIME! But remember, as you’re dealing with situations in your life, you are in the process and good things can come out of it!
Even if all you see now is kind of an ugly oyster with an irritant … (trust me, my senior picture is not on social media for a reason… LOL!) … be patient with yourself. You haven’t seen the finished product yet!
When I was in High School, I really couldn’t see everything that I could become, all the blessings that were coming in my life. All I saw was the oyster and the irritant.
Growing up in Puerto Rico, my family didn’t have a lot of money. We hardly had any money at all. It was hard sometimes to deal with all the “irritants” … wondering if any kind of good ‘pearl’ could come from all my experiences.
I couldn’t see it then, but the visit to a radio station when I was in high school was part of my story to becoming a radio personality, first in Puerto Rico, then nationwide on Air 1 and K-LOVE, and here in Houston when I worked at KSBJ.
I couldn’t see it then, but all the times I sang with my school choir and church choir, it may not have seemed like much, but I was practicing for the moments I’d be able to travel and sing from Puerto Rico to Venezuela, Mexico and from Florida to California.
I couldn’t see it then, but when I was doing a presentation at a small bookstore years ago, I had no idea that “public appearance” would be something God used in my life to open a door to hosting a TV show … which would lead to more open doors, now that I’m hosting the TV show “Joy in Our Town” on TBN affiliate, KETH.
Maybe there’s something you’re doing now that seems small to you.
Even if you can’t see it now, trust the Pearl Process … C.O.A.T your grains of sand, and wait. Good things are coming.
“Don’t throw your pearls to pigs! They will trample the pearls, then turn and attack you. “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:6-7 NLT