Nacre, or mother of pearl, can be found in the shells of molluscs and is also the material that makes up pearls. Nacre is composed of hexagonal platelets, called tablets, of aragonite that are embedded on a continuous parallel lamina. The hard rigid tables are bonded to the flexible polymer lamina, and thin layers of tablets and lamina are stacked on top of each other, which makes the material incredibly strong and resilient, and also, because the layers are almost the exact same thickness as the wavelength of visible light, nacre is also incredibly iridescent, able to capture and transform the light that hits it. If nacre was just made up of the crystalline tablets, it would be brittle and vulnerable to breaking. If it was only made up of the layers of lamina, it would be squishy and have no structure. But with both together, it is strong and resilient, resistant to tensile, shear, and compression stresses. We have commandments and covenants that are hard and rigid, like the platelets in nacre. If we had only the stone tablets of the law, then as weak and imperfect as we are, we would only break against the implacable demands of justice and be ground into a powder as it fell upon us. If we had only the the malleable mercy of unconditional forgiveness, then we would sin without remorse and without any motivation to improve ourselves. But as we bind together justice and mercy, a relentless pursuit of perfection and a patient acceptance of the length and time and the many detours that it may take to arrive at such perfection, we can add line upon line, layer upon layer of striving to perfectly obey the commandments and fall short and repent and be forgiven and try again and fail again and be forgiven again. And with each layer we will only increase our strength and resilience and be able to capture more and and more light as we work with our Savior to make ourselves up as His jewel and His pearl of great price.
