A familiar story:

A tiny grain of sand finds its way inside the shell of an oyster. Though the intruder is microscopic, it is a source of pain and irritation to the soft body of the oyster. Unable to take action to eject the unwelcome irritant, the oyster makes takes a different form of action. It strives to reduce the irritation it feels by coating the tiny pebble annoying it with layers of a soft, radiant mother-of pearl substance from its shell. Slowly, over time, the oyster transforms a once-painful irritation into a beautiful pearl which is seen by the world as a creation of great value.

Sometime today, you’re going to be irritated by something. And sometime today, the same thing is going to happen to me. Those are pretty safe predictions. What’s not so easy to foresee is how we’ll respond to whatever creates the friction that irritates us.

Workwise, we may find that we’re annoyed with ourselves because we’re not moving forward with a project as fast as we like. Oe because someone else is holding up our progress. Or we might find it irritating to revisit a piece of prose that we thought we’s polished already. Or to find yet another publication turndown in our email.

Whatever thorny situation we’re facing, we go down one of two roads. We can focus on the problem and the pain it causes, or we can focus on the possibilities it offers.

Which will it be?

Will we focus on the pebble—the obstacle that’s in our way?

Or will we focus on the pearl—the potential for creation?

The choice is ours.

Let’s put our energy into making beautiful pearls—into transforming what every obstacles we face into opportunities. Write on!

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