My posting this week is related to Pearls - that's right... the elegant, expensive pearl found in most jewelery stores.  Do you know how a pearl is formed?  It starts out as a tiny grain of sand that works its way into a pearl. 

Can you image how much irritation that grain of sand causes the clam?  I've always said that people don't do things when they are motivated, only when they are irritaded.  I actually heard this during a training seminar and found the speaker's words to be true. 

I can relate to this in how I personally do things and I'm sure you can to... Often times a light bulb will burst and be out while the other two or three in the light fixture are functioning.  I don't change the bulb right away, out of convenience, but once it's irritating enough... I take the time to change it out.  

Closer to home, I can get irritated from time to time when people don't listen to me the first time I tell them something or when it seems like someone goes out of their way to irritate me.  The challenge for me is to push past that irritation and realize that this person may be in my life or my circumstance on purpose... to help refine me... to help me grow.  The reality is that if I accept what's happening to me, I can learn from it and grow... not allowing that irritation to pull the joy from my life. 

(Romans 8:18 says: I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us.)

What I get from this is that God is more interested in my circumstance than my location.  I may be irritated and want to be somewhere fast... impatient, intollerent... but God knows better and wants to use that opportunity as a way for me to learn something about myself and grow from it.

Today, consider the things in your life that you find irritating... what can you do that will push you forward?

What can you do today that will improve your understanding of something new or finish something you once started?

What are you putting off that is an inconvenience in your day to day life?

I encourage you to think of the Pearl.... once a grain of sand, now a valuable jewel.

Take something that irritates you today and turn it into a valuable jewel in your life... open your heart and your mind up to be changed or improved, so that you too can be this valuable.  Embrace the opportunity to change so you can grow.

Don't let the irritations in life take you down a path of laziness or unproductive behavior... use that irritation to challenge you, improve you, and change you for the better.

Relating this to your work and your business, consider those around you.. consider why they are there and see if the interactions you have today can be used to help you improve.  Consider the challenges you have today or this week as things placed there by God to improve your business.  If you're in the same place you were last year then consider the circumstances.  If you're not growing, improving, bearing more fruit than a month or a year ago, then consider those around you and take a step back.  Maybe the challenges in your life are there to help you grow and once you push through it, you'll be pleasently surprised by what you find on the other side. 

The growth you make can be an example to those around you.  Consider all that you do and use it as a way to glorify God.  Do it now, don't wait!