There was once a father who gave his daughter a string of fake pearls. She fell in love with it and would never be apart from it. She slept together with it, she played with it, she bathed in it...she did everything with it! Then one day, her father came to her and asked her to give the pearls back to him. The girl refused. She clung onto it tighter and cried. But daily, the father would ask her to give the pearls back to him.

One night, she decided that her love for her father was greater, meant more to her than the pearls and since daddy wants it so much, she will give the pearls to him. And so the girl gave. The very next day, by her bed was a string of real pearls. Shiny, lustrous, beautiful...more than she could ever imagine.

Lord, when will the real pearls come?

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. - Jim Elliot