Daily Encouragement For January 31, 2012:

A cheerful girl with bouncy curls, who was almost five years old, saw them as her mother was at the checkout stand, a strand of pearls in a pink foil box.

"Oh please, Mommy. Can I have them? Please, Mommy, please!" Quickly, the mother checked the back of the little foil box and read the price tag. "$1.95, she said. “That's almost $2. 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. And your birthday is only a week away, you might get money from Grandma too."

As soon as she got home, she emptied her penny bank and counted out 17 pennies. After dinner, she did more than her share of chores and went to the neighbor next door and asked if she could pick up around the yard for 10 cents. She worked and worked the entire week, and made a little over a dollar.

On her birthday, Grandma gave $1 and at last she had enough money to buy the necklace. She begged her mother to take her to the store and finally bought the pearls she worked so hard for.

She loved her pearls, she felt so dressed up and grown up. She wore them everywhere, Sunday school, kindergarten, even to bed. The only time she took them off was when she went swimming or taking a bath because mother said if they got wet, they might turn her neck green.

She 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 when he finished the story, he asked her, "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 favorite."
"That's okay, Honey. Daddy loves you. Good night." He kissed her cheek and turned out the lights.

About a week later, after the story time, her 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 so beautiful and you can have the yellow blanket that matches her slippers."
"That's okay, honey. Sleep well. God bless you, little one. Daddy loves you." Again, kissing her cheek and turning our the lights.

A few nights later when her daddy came in, she was sitting on her bed with her legs crossed. As he came close, he noticed her chin was trembling and one silent tear rolled down her cheek. "What is it, Honey? What's the matter?"
She didn't say a word, 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. It's for you."

With tears gathering in his own eyes, her kind 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. He put them around her neck saying, “These you will never have to take off.”

He had them all the time. He was just waiting for her to give up the dime store stuff so he could give her genuine treasure.

God has many treasures waiting to give us, but we must be willing to give up the very things that are dear to us to receive them. God gave up the only thing that was dear to Him to save us from hell and the lake of fire, that was His Son, Jesus Christ.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” -John 3:16-18.