The Daily Pearl
On Community
A pearl kept from the brand’s mornings: a verse to hold, a prayer to say and a word to carry.
“Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow.”
Ecclesiastes 4 : 9-10
A Prayer for This Morning
Father, you did not design me for the solitary life my independence keeps proposing. Give me the humility to be lifted and the readiness to lift. Bind me to my sisters with knots that hold when it would be easier to drift.
Affirmation
I am one pearl on a strand, stronger in company than I could ever be alone.
The Reflection
Two are better than one is arithmetic so simple it is easy to walk past. The Preacher's reasoning is not sentimental but practical: they have a good reward for their labour; if they fall, one lifts the other. Scripture assumes falling. The question community answers is not whether we will go down but who will be within reach when we do.
A strand of pearls is the brand’s picture of it. Each pearl is complete alone, formed in its own darkness, sufficient in its own lustre; strung, they become something no single pearl could be. And the knot tied between each pearl matters most: it is there so that if the strand breaks, nothing precious is lost. Good friendships tie such knots. They are called into use rarely, and they are the whole point.
In Her Company
St Brigid of Kildare
Abbess of Kildare, whose table was famous before her miracles were. Half of Ireland seems to have eaten under her roof, and none left unblessed.
Brigid of Kildare, born in Ireland around 451, founded the great double monastery of Kildare and is counted among Ireland's three patron saints. The stories that gather about her are stories of open-handed plenty: butter, ale and welcome that never ran short. The woven rush cross that carries her name still hangs over Irish doorways.
Image via Wikimedia Commons
The Wardrobe