Working My Pearls Day 8: Knotted Together

Since we are on the subject of how pearls are strung to make necklaces, I have a little more to share on that subject. Creating a beautiful pearl necklace is a complicated affair. Every pearl is unique, so the first order of business is to select the individual pearls that will be used to create the necklace. Pearls of all the same size? Maybe graduated sizes? Maybe random sizes? Colors matched or contrasting? What about shapes? All round? Baroque? Some of each? Of the same color? Same shape? Now that you've selected the pearls, you have to put them in order from one end to the other. Now that the difficult part is done, the most important work happens - stringing and knotting the pearls. Yesterday we talked about the knots in between pearls preventing all pearls bouncing across the floor if the necklace is broken. But the knots also play two other important roles. First, they protect the pearls from rubbing up against and damaging one another. This ensures that each beautifully unique pearl retains its unique beauty for years to come. The second role the knots play is to join together all of those unique pearls into a necklace that is even more beautiful than any one individual pearl. The whole, as they say, is greater than the sum of its parts.

People and teams are like pearl necklaces. Each individual needs to retain their own unique and beautiful gifts, but when those beauties are joined together something even more special is possible. So wear your pearls.