The little girl went grocery shopping with her mom and as they were checking out, she saw these pink pearls in the check-out aisle. When she saw these plastic pearls, she KNEW she had to have them. The little girl begged her mom, “please mommy, oh please can I get these pink pearls?” The mom reminded her daughter that they had just come to the grocery store to buy groceries and nothing else. The little girl kept begging and her mom came up with a deal. Her mom said, “How about you save up your money and when you have enough, I will bring you back to the store so you can buy those pink pearls”. The little girl was so excited, she immediately went to her piggy bank when she got home and found just enough money for those, in her eyes, beautiful, pink pearls. She ran up to her mom, begging to go back to the store to buy her necklace. As the mom promised, the two of them went back to the store.
The little girl was so excited when she bought her pearls. To her, they were everything. They were pink. They were HER pearls. They were beautiful!
Every night, her father comes in to read her a bed time story and tuck her in. One night the father asked his daughter, “How much do you love me?”
“Oh daddy, I love you so much.”
“If you love me, will you give me your pearls?”
“Oh daddy, you know I love you, but these pearls are so special to me”.
“That’s okay. I love you.”
The next night, the father asked the same thing…and got the same response.
The night after that, he came to tuck his little girl in and found her sitting at the edge of her bed crying.
“Oh d-d-daddy, you know I love you so much…H-here, you can have my pearls. Because I love you”.
The little girl’s father took the cheap, plastic, pink pearls in his hand…and with his other, reached out to his precious little girl. In his hand was a black box.
The little girl opened the box and there was a pearl necklace…a REAL and beautiful pearl necklace.
--Pastor Judy
Isn’t this just like what God does with us? There are things we cherish so much in this world, things that God asks us to give to Him. Of course we are hesitant at first…those are our treasures, our plastic pearls…we can’t give them away…we can’t give them to God, they are ours.
But when we do give our gifts to God, when we hand over the cheap pearl necklaces…God blesses us with beautiful, real pearls. Pearls that are so much better than our pink pearls, our cheap and plastic pearls we bought with our piggy bank money.
The little girl in the story tried so hard to keep her pearls. They were so special to her. But when she finally decided to give them to her daddy, he surprised her and gave her something so much more special.
--reposted from Carla Huber
Then, just recently God told me to sit down and look at the pearls I had. He said look at what you have. Oh my was I in awe of this "pearl" that I had. I loved it. I never ever wanted to part from this "pearl". I saw it in a new light and treasured the "pearl" and was ready to finally put it on and not just hold it firmly in my hand. I was ready to wear my "pearl" with pride and joy and love.
Not a day later God came to me and said, you love me? Give me that pearl. WHAT??? You just showed me the value of my pearl. You just pointed to all the beauty and worth in this pearl and now you want it? Wait, no! I've held on to this for so long, I don't knwo what I would be without this pearl. I don't know who I would be without this pearl. I don't want anyone else to have this pearl. It's MINE! Those dreaded words.
Just like the girl in this story though. With tears in my eyes I decided a few days before hearing thsi analogy, to give God my pearl. Oh man, with tears and hurt all attached. Walking away from the thing you value so much is not an easy feat. Walking away from something you have held on to for so long is not easy at ALL. Though God hasn't revealed his greater pearl to me yet, I know he has it coming. And honestly, right now he is offering me something even more valuable. He is offering me himself. I add my own part of the story and it comes right before he pulls out the better pearls, he says:
My girl, I love you.
You are beautiful with or without these pearls.
Let me dry your tears.
Thank you for choosing me.
I want to spend time with you.
I want to show you that I love you.
Come dance with me.
Come eat with me.
Come, darling.
Let me show you my love for you.
I am in the moment before he reveals his new greater pearl. I am in the moment when he looks deeply into my eyes and dries my tears and says, "just be with me". I will love you more than those pearls could ever love you. I will show you the wonders of the world and the joy I give. Just come, spend some time with me and you will forget about that pearl. Then, when you become so in love with me and so fixated on me. Then, then, my little girl, my child, my beloved, I will show you the greater pearl that I have in store for you and together we will rejoice!
1 comment:
amazing! i love your blog! your stories and insights make me cry, l o l . keep it up.
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