Long ago, a pearl farmer sought to cultivate the world's largest pearl. He went to the seashore to select sand grains, asking each if they wished to become a pearl. One after another refused, and the farmer despaired. Finally, one grain agreed.
The other grains laughed at it. To become a pearl, it would have to live inside a clam, far from family and friends. It would no longer see the sunshine, rain, dew, bright moon, or feel the pleasant breeze. Instead, it would face only darkness, dampness, cold, and loneliness. It seemed a foolish choice.
Years later, that single grain had transformed into a priceless pearl. The grains that had mocked it remained just a pile of sand, some even turned to soil.
If anything can turn stone into gold, it is hardship and pain. Endure and persist. When you finally emerge from the long, dark tunnel of suffering, you—once as ordinary as a grain of sand—will have grown into a pearl.