Olive's Oil

An Encouraging Reminder


Faith Pendant-hollow glass pendant neclace with a mustarseed floating in olive oil, as a reminder of the verse found in the Bible on how faith, as small as a mustard grain, can move mountains!

Matthew 17:20 An Jesus said to them: "Because of your faith. For truly I
say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this
mountain, transfer, and noting will be impossible for you."

Luke 3:18-19 Therefore he went on to say: "What is the kingdom of God
like, and with what shall I compare it? 19 It is like a mustard seed that a
man took and put in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the
birds of heaven took up lodging in its branches."


WHY OLIVE'S OIL?

As a young girl, I did what young girls sometimes do. I complained about how wrong, unfair things were when they didn't go the way I thought they should! I pouted, doubted and sometimes even shouted!!

My dear mother, Olive Pearl, lovingly tried to teach me that life cannot always be as we wish, as we think it should be. It is not easy to accept disappointment, but it is part of our existence here, on this earth. She told me of Christ on the cross, and how, eventhough he tried, did the right, his best, he suffered disapointment and even asked his father God, "WHY", as he was truly suffering in pain, on the cross!

Her words, "Even though" you do your best, be your best, try your hardest, sometimes things may or no work out well for your efforts. We hope that all works out as we want, however, after you have tried, done the right, sometimes things just don't work out the way we thik they should. I recall JFK saying in a speech saying that "Life is unfair!"

Even though Christ was on the cross, suffering, he cried out to his father , God and asked "WHY hath thou forsaken me?" His faith was strong even though he was suffering, on the cross, through his Faith, he knew God was there, and He, God knows why! His pain was great, Christ knew he was to be sacrificed, but did he expect that his father would allow him to suffer such pain? He, Christ did not have the answer to this, but he had faith, even in this worst situation, he knew that God was there.

We give thanks, have joy when things go well, Halleluja! However, when things do Not go well, we must have Faith to carry on an to ask God , "WHY", eventhough the answer may not be immediately forthcoming. When sometimes, we my 'figuratively' be on the cross or feel like we are, we trul need a reminder of our Faith to know that God, our Father in Heaven, is indeed there!!


FAITH AS SMALL AS A MUSTARD SEED

One day my Mom came home, and she gave me a little box she had taken out of her purse. She kissed me on the cheek as she gave me the box. I opened it and found a necklace, a bottle pendant with a litlle seed fouting in it. I had never seen such. I thanked her for the gift, and I instictively knew it had a profound, uplifting message. Indeed it did. Eventhough I knew it contained an important message. I was really surprised!! She gave me a card and on the card were some Bible versus. I'd hadBible studies at my church, AME Zion in Boston, MA, but I had never read these verses: Matthew 1:20 and Luke 13:18-19.

When this event happened, I was around 12 years old. Now,decades later
I still need to remind myself to have Faith and to draw upon what I was ttaught as a yougster, Faith the size of a mustard seed can sustain. The life long quest is calling on that Faith, eventhough!!

I have moved a dozen times over the decades. Somewhere along the way, my mustard seed necklace was left behind, lost. My Faith, though tested was not!

I have search for these pendants for some time and couldn't find such. But now, I happily have made these, at first just for myself, but then, I realized that they can be an inspiration to others as it has been for me.
I hope these pendants can be a reminder of the message of encouragement, fortitude these Bible verses bring to us all, and to say thank you o my beloved mother, Olive Pearl.