The Pearls

 The cheerful 5 year old little girl with bouncy golden curls, was waiting with her Mother at the checkout stand, she saw them, a circle of glistening white pearls in a pink foil box.

“Oh, Mommy please, Mommy.  Can I have them?  Please, Mommy, please?”

Quickly her Mother checked the back of the little foil box and then looked back into the pleading blue eyes of her little girl’s upturned face.  “A dollar ninety-five.  That’s almost $2:00.  If you really want them, I’ll think of some extra chores for you and in no time you can save enough money to buy them for yourself.  Your birthday’s only a week away and you might get another crisp dollar bill from Grandma.”

As soon as Jenny got home, she emptied her penny bank and counted out 17 pennies.  After dinner, she did more than her share of chores and she went to the neighbour and asked Mrs McJames if she could pick dandelions for ten cents.  On her birthday, Grandma did give her another new dollar bill and at last she had enough money to buy the necklace.

Jenny loved her pearls. They made her feel dressed up and grown up.  She wore them everywhere — Sunday school, Kindergarten, even to bed and once when she was a flower girl, she felt so pretty with them on. The only time she took them off was when she went swimming or had a bubble bath.  Mother said if they got wet, they might turn her neck green.

Jenny had a very Loving Daddy and every night when she was ready for bed, he would stop whatever he was doing and come upstairs to read her a story.  One night as he finished the story, he asked Jenny, “Do you Love me?”  “Oh yes, Daddy.  You know that I Love you.”  “Then give me your pearls.”  “Oh, Daddy, not my pearls.  But you can have Princess, the white horse from my collection, the one with the pink tail.  Remember Daddy?  The one you gave me.  She’s my very favourite.”

That’s okay, Honey, Daddy Loves you.  Good night.”  And he brushed her cheek with a kiss.

About a week later, after the story time, Jenny’s Daddy asked again, “Do you Love me?”  “Daddy, you know I Love you.”  “Then give me your pearls.”  “Oh, Daddy, not my pearls.  But you can have my baby doll.  The brand new one I got for my birthday.  She is beautiful and you can have the yellow blanket that matches her sleeper.”

“That’s okay.  Sleep well.  God bless you, little one.  Daddy Loves you.”  And as always, he brushed her cheek with a gentle kiss.

A few nights later when her Daddy came in, Jenny was sitting on her bed and as he came close, he noticed her chin was trembling and one silent tear rolled down her cheek.“What is it, Jenny?  What’s the matter?”

Jenny didn’t say anything but lifted her little hand up to her Daddy.  And when she opened it, there was her little pearl necklace.  With a little quiver, she finally said, “Here, Daddy, this is for you.”

With tears gathering in his own eyes, Jenny’s Daddy reached out with one hand to take the dime-store necklace, and with the other hand he reached into his pocket and pulled out a blue velvet case with a strand of genuine pearls and gave them to Jenny.  He had them all the time.  He was just waiting for her to give up the dime-store stuff so he could give her the genuine treasure… Author Unknown

So it is with our Heavenly Father He is waiting for us to give up the things in our lifes that are of little value so that He can give us beautiful treasures… so we can reach the hights regardless of the lows.

We need  to talk to God about your “pearls”. Are we hanging onto some things in our life that are keeping us from getting the “genuine pearls” our Heavenly Father wants to give us? Are we living for this lifes rewards  or are we willing to give up everything now in order to have  the Kingdom of  God in our heart?  

Do we realize the great value there will be  in our eternal  Heaven…no more tears, complete fulfilment, anything we enjoy here on earth 100x better? but God want’s us  to also enjoy His fulfilment today regardless of our circumstances to know His  Joy even in the very hard times.

Heaven is not just about angels with harps sitting on clouds. It is about eternity…forever. Are we willing to settle for the temporary highs of material things today and give up the eternal highs we can have  now and  forever?

Sometimes it is so hard to see what is in the other hand, but do believe one thing — God will never encourage us to let go of something without giving us  something better in its place.