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     Jenny was a bright-eyed, pretty five-year-old girl.  One day when she and her mother were checking out at the grocery store, Jenny saw a plastic pearl necklace priced at $2.50. How she wanted that necklace and when she asked her mother if she would buy it for her, her mother said, “Well, it is a pretty necklace, but it costs an awful lot of money. I’ll tell you what. I’ll buy you the necklace, and when we get home we can make up a list of chores that you can do to pay for the necklace. And don’t forget that for your birthday Grandma just might give you a whole dollar bill, too. Okay?” Jenny agreed, and her mother bought the pearl necklace for her. Jenny
worked on her chores very hard every day, and sure enough, her Grandma gave her a brand new dollar bill for her birthday.

     Soon Jenny had paid off the pearls. How Jenny loved those pearls. She wore them everywhere to
kindergarten, bed, and when she went out with her mother to run errands. The only time she didn’t wear them was in the shower – her mother had told her that they would turn her neck green. Now Jenny had a very loving daddy. When Jenny went to bed, he would get up from his favorite chair every night and read Jenny her favorite story. One night when he finished the story, he said, “Jenny, do you love me?”
“Oh yes, Daddy, you know I love you,” the little girl said.

“Well, then, give me your pearls.”

“Oh! Daddy, not my pearls!” Jenny said. “But you can have Rosie, my
favorite doll. Remember her? You gave her to me last year for my
birthday. And you can have her tea party outfit, too. Okay?”

“Oh no, darling, that’s okay.” Her father brushed her cheek with a
kiss. “Good night, little one.”

A week later, her father once again asked Jenny after her story, “Do
you love me?”

“Oh yes, Daddy, you know I love you.”

“Well, then, give me your pearls.”

“Oh, Daddy, not my pearls! But you can have Ribbons, my toy horse. Do
you remember her? She’s my favorite. Her hair is so soft, and you can
play with it and braid it and everything. You can have Ribbons if you
want her, Daddy,” the little girl said to her father.

“No, that’s okay,” her father said and brushed her cheek again with a
kiss. “God bless you, little one. Sweet dreams.”

Several days later, when Jenny’s father came in to read her a story,
Jenny was sitting on her bed and her lip was trembling. “Here,
Daddy,” she said, and held out her hand. She opened it and her
beloved pearl necklace was inside. She let it slip into her father’s
hand. With one hand her father held the plastic pearls and with the
other he pulled out of his pocket a blue velvet box.

Inside of the box were real, genuine, beautiful pearls.

He had them all along. He was waiting for Jenny to give up the cheap
stuff so he could give her the real thing. So it is with our Heavenly
Father. He is waiting for us to give up the cheap things in our lives
so that he can give us beautiful treasure. Isn’t God good?

Are you holding onto things which God wants you to let go of?

Are you holding onto harmful or unnecessary partners, relationships,
habits and activities which you have become so attached to that it
seems impossible to let go?

Sometimes it is so hard to see what is in the other hand but do
believe this one thing……. ……… .

God will never take away something without giving you something
better in its place.