“Papa, look!” Someone had just given a six-year-old
a string of plastic pearls, and she was bubbling over
with excitement as she ran to show them to her father.
- faux pearls
“These are beautiful,” her father said. For a long,
thoughtful moment he turned them over in his hand
and watched them shine in the light from
the lamp next to his easy chair.
Then he asked, “Will you do something for me?
Will you give me these beads in exchange for
something I will give you tomorrow?”
"Have I ever asked you to do anything that wasn’t
for your good?"
“What’s that?” asked the little girl.
“You’ll see tomorrow,” her father replied.
The little girl’s eyes betrayed her inward struggle.
“It’s up to you,” the father said. “You don’t have to
make the trade just because I am asking you to, but have
I ever asked you to do anything that wasn’t for
your good? Can you trust that I know best?”
It wasn’t easy, but the little girl handed the beads to her
father. He slipped them into his pocket, and gave her a big
hug that said, “I’m proud of you.”
The next day, the father gave the little girl a gift that was
far more beautiful and valuable—a delicate gold chain with a
genuine pearl pendant. The little girl forgot all about the
string of plastic pearls.
- beautiful pearl pendant with gold chain
“I did this to teach you to trust the Father in Heaven,”
her father explained.
“Many times in your life He will ask you to give up something
you want, or to avoid something that to you looks good,
and often you won’t understand why.
But if you trust your heavenly Father as you have trusted me,
you will find that He always knows best.
When He asks you to give up some things, it’s because
He wants to give you much better things.”
In one of the parables that Jesus told, He likened the
Kingdom of Heaven to a pearl so rare, so beautiful,
and so costly that one man sold everything he
owned in order to buy that one pearl (Matthew 13:45-46).
We can have a little bit of Heaven here and now, but the
gifts and treasures of the spirit come at a price.
To experience and enjoy the things of eternal value,
we have to make room for them; we have to be willing
to give up some of our “trinkets,”
the trivialities and fleeting pleasures of this life.
Jehovah God satisfies the hungry hearts with good things,
but the rich—those who are too busy or satisfied with
other things—He sends away empty (Psalm 107:9; Luke 1:53).
Will you “sell” the things of this world in order
to gain the true riches?
