Religion: A Pastor Ponders

Learning our lessons

By Pastor William Jenkins

November 7, 2007

A Cheerful girl with bouncy golden curls was almost five. Waiting with her mother at the checkout stand, she saw them - a circle of glistening white pearls in a pink foil box. “Oh, please, Mommy, can I have them? Please, Mommy, please!”

Quickly the mother checked the price tag on the back of the little foil box and then looked back into the pleading eyes of her little girl’s upturned face and replaced the box. Turning to her daughter she said, “Jenny, you’ll have to save your money so you can buy them.”

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. She went to the neighbor and asked Mrs. McJames if she could pick dandelions from her yard for ten cents. On her birthday her grandma gave her a new dollar bill. At last she had enough money to buy the pearl necklace.

Jenny loved her pearls. 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 Jenny, “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 new birthday baby doll.” “That’s okay. Sleep well. God bless you, little one.” And as always, he brushed her cheek with a kiss. This bargaining went on for several nights with Jenny refusing to part with her pearls.

Then one night when her daddy came in, Jenny was sitting on her bed with her legs crossed, Indian style. 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 a thing but lifted her little hand up to her daddy. When she opened it there was her pearl necklace. With a little quiver, she finally said, “Here, Daddy. It’s 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 said, “Jenny I’ve had these to give to you but I was just waiting for you to give up your dime-store necklace so I could give you the genuine pearls.”

So it is with our heavenly Father. What are the dime-store things we hang on to while forfeiting the genuine articles?

League City United Methodist Church is located at 1411 Main Street (FM 518), one block east of Interstate 45. For information, call the church offices at 281-332-1557 or visit the Web site at

HYPERLINK - http://www.lcumc.org