Jenny, a cheerful girl with bouncy curls, was six years old. Waiting with her mother at the checkout stand, she saw a necklace of pretty white pearls. "Oh please, Mommy, can I have them? Please, Mommy, please?" Her mother checked the price and then looked back at her pleading little girl. "$1.95! Well, if you really want them, Jenny, you can earn money by doing extra chores and in no time you can save enough money to buy them. Maybe you'll even get a gift from Grandma on your birthday."
When Jenny got home, she emptied her piggy bank and counted out 17 cents. After dinner, she did more than her share of chores and the next day asked Mrs. McJames if she could pick dandelions from her lawn for ten cents. Grandma gave her a whole dollar, and soon Jenny had enough money to buy the pearls.
Jenny loved her pearls. They made her feel so grown up. She wore them everywhere - Sunday school, school, sometimes even to bed. She did take them off while swimming so they wouldn't be lost.
Jenny had a loving Daddy and often he would read her a bedtime story. One night when he'd finished a story, he asked, "Jenny, do you love me?" "Oh yes, Daddy," Jenny said, "I love you." "Then give me your pearls," he said. "Oh, Daddy, not my pearls. You can have Princess, my white horse with a pink tail. She's my favorite. But not my pearls." "I love you, Honey," her Daddy said as he kissed her good night.
A week later, after story time, Daddy asked her again, "Jenny, do you love me?" "Daddy, you know I love you," she said. "Then give me your pearls," he said. "Oh Daddy, not my pearls. You can have my baby doll, that I got for my birthday. She is so beautiful, but you can have her." Her Daddy smiled, "That's okay, honey. God loves you, and so do I." And he kissed her good night.
A few nights later when Daddy came in her room Jenny was sitting on her bed. And he noticed a little tear was on her cheek. "What is it, Jenny?" Jenny lifted her hand and with a small, quiet voice said, "Here, Daddy, these are for you." And she gave him her pearl necklace.
With tears in his own eyes, Daddy hugged Jenny a long time. And as he reached out his hand to take her dime-store necklace, with his other hand he gave her a blue velvet case. In it was a strand of real pearls, very costly and far more beautiful than her toy ones. He'd wanted to give her these all the time, but was waiting for her willingness to give up her toy so she could receive a real treasure.
Our Heavenly Father is waiting for us, His dear children, to give up the lesser things in our lives so He can give us real treasures. Are there things in your life God wants you to let go? Are you holding on to unnecessary or even harmful possessions, relationships or habits to which you've become so attached that it seems impossible to let them go? Maybe now is the time.
God never takes something away from us without giving us something far better in its place. But we won't know what's in His other hand until we are willing to give Him our most precious earthly possessions.
A loss may seem cruel now, but God makes up for it in a much better way.
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