Lustrous and strong, that’s silk. The more time and effort put into it, the more beautiful it becomes.

Making silk is a lengthy process. If it’s rushed, silk worms die and threads break.

Silk begins in a cocoon, where a silk worm grows for three weeks. When it emerges, it finds a mate and begins to lay eggs.

Seven days later, tiny caterpillars hatch, 300-500 of them. For forty days, they voraciously feast on mulberry leaves, never stopping until it’s time to spin their cocoons.

By the time there’s enough thread, 2500 silk worms have been born and 112,500 hours of silkworm labor have been spent. Then, human weavers take over.

The cocoons are boiled to remove the sticky coating binding them. Then each is carefully unwound onto a reel. They are dyed, dried, spun onto bobbins and finally woven into silk. With modern methods, it takes 40 hours. That’s why, a high quality silk pillowcase, though one of the simplest things to sew, costs nearly $100.

Making silk takes time. So does building a friendship with the person you want to marry, encouraging a depressed friend, changing the view of the pessimists in your life, praying and praying again for your world and yourself. Doing good takes time. But bit by bit, your patience helps create something beautiful.