By Maritza Brunt
It was a rainy Sunday afternoon, and Sophia was inside playing dress ups. It was her absolute favourite thing to do, and today, she decided she’d be a butterfly princess from a faraway land.
Sophia pulled on her frilly rainbow skirt that puffed out whenever she spun really fast, and then tugged the straps of her butterfly wings over each arm. Slipping her feet into fancy pink shoes and setting a little crown on her head, Sophia admired her reflection in her bedroom mirror.
But… hold on… there was something missing! Sophia ran to her dress up box, pulling items out. They have to be here somewhere, she thought, as she flung costumes and accessories onto the floor.
But when the box was empty, Sophia still hadn’t found what she was looking for.
“Mum!” Sophia called, skidding down the hall and into the kitchen. “MUM!”
Mum poked her head out of the living room. “Yes, Sophia?”
“My pearl necklace!” Sophia cried. “I can’t find it! It was in my dress up box this morning and now it’s just NOT!”
“Take a deep breath,” said Mum, “and let’s have a look.”
She led the way back down the hall, with a sniffly Sophia following her.
“Now,” said Mum, when they were back in Sophia’s room. “Where did you last have it?”
Sophia thought hard.
“Well, I was pretending that I was a big lion this morning, and the couch was my den. Remember I pulled all the cushions off the couch to make my den cozy?”
“I remember,” Mum said dryly. “What about after that?”
“After you made me put my den away, I was an eagle soaring through the sky! And I was jumping off the table, only you told me to stop that too, so then, I was a teensy little worm. Or a caterpillar. I don’t really remember, but I was wriggling my way under the piano and—”
Sophia gasped. The piano!
She ran to the living room and scurried under the piano bench. And there, peeking out from under the pedals, was her pearl necklace.
“MUM! I FOUND IT!” shouted Sophia.
Mum came into the room and smiled. “There you go,” she said. “It sometimes helps to retrace our steps when we lose something!”
“Oh, I’m just SO glad I found my pearls,” said Sophia, slipping the necklace over her head. “They are just so lovely and shiny and they are my most FAVOURITE dress up item ever, Mum! Do you know why? Because they are REAL!”
Mum was quiet for a moment. Then she motioned to Sophia with her finger.
“Come with me,” she said.
Sophia followed Mum into her Mum and Dad’s room, and hopped up on the big bed as Mum opened the top drawer of her dresser. She watched as Mum took out a flat, square shaped box and brought it over to the bed.
“You really love your pearls, don’t you, Sophia?” said Mum.
“More than anything, Mum! I don’t know what I would do without them!”
Mum nodded. “What if I told you that your pearls weren’t real?”
Sophia stared. “Mum! Of COURSE my pearls are real! They are worth so much money because they’re so beautiful!”
Mum pressed the box into Sophia’s hands. “Open it,” she said.
Sophia carefully slid the latch on the box, loving the way the soft fabric felt under her fingers. Lifting the lid, she gasped and nearly dropped the box. It was a pearl necklace, just like hers! Except… this one was WAY nicer than hers. The pearls were a white, milky colour but they had almost a rainbow sheen to them. They felt heavier than her pearls, and were bigger, too.
“Mum,” Sophia whispered. “This is beautiful!”
Mum scooted closer to Sophia on the bed. “These were my Grandma’s pearls—your Great-Great-Grandma. She brought them from her country many, many years ago, but what makes them special is how precious they are. See how some of them are not completely round? These are some of the most beautiful pearls in the world, and one day, they’ll be yours, too.”
Sophia couldn’t believe what she was hearing. One day she’d get to wear the beautiful pearl necklace that had been in her family for so many years! But… she looked down at her dress up pearl necklace. Suddenly, it didn’t look so shiny and perfect anymore.
“I don’t want these pearls, now, Mum,” Sophia said, touching her dress up necklace. “Those ones you have are way better!”
Mum laughed as she gently closed the box and stood up to put it back in the drawer. “You know,” she said. “This reminds me of a parable in the Bible.”
“What’s a par-al?” Sophia asked.
“A par-a-ble,” Mum said, spelling it out for her, “is a story that Jesus told to help people see what he was trying to say.”
“Oh,” said Sophia. “Does the parable have pearls in it?”
“It does, actually!” said Mum. “The story goes that there was a merchant—someone who sells things—who was looking for quality pearls to sell. He looked all over the land, and finally, he found the most beautiful, perfect pearl he had ever seen!”
“What did he do?” cried Sophia.
“Well,” said Mum. “The Bible says he sold everything he owned just to buy that pearl.”
Sophia was stunned. “He sold absolutely everything he had? Everything?”
“Everything,” confirmed Mum.
Sophia thought about this for a moment.
“Did Great-Great-Grandma have to sell everything she owned to buy that pearl necklace?” she asked. “Because it’s probably more beautiful than the pearl in the parable.”
Mum laughed. “No, she didn’t sell everything she owned. She already had something worth far more than that pearl necklace.”
Sophia’s eyes widened. What could be worth more than that beautiful necklace?
Mum took Sophia’s hands in hers. “The pearl in the Bible story Jesus told was actually representing heaven. Jesus was trying to say that heaven is worth far more than any beautiful pearl—worth more than anything, really! When we search for the kingdom of heaven, it’s because we know that it is the greatest treasure we could ever receive. Even greater than a beautiful pearl necklace.”
Sophia considered this. She had been searching this morning for her dress up pearl necklace, thinking she had the most beautiful necklace in the world. Then her Mum had shown her a real pearl necklace, which was a hundred times more beautiful! But…
“I think Jesus is more beautiful than either of those pearl necklaces, Mum,” she said.
Mum smiled.
“I agree,” she said. “There are lots of things we own that are important to us. But Jesus wants to be the most important—and most valuable—thing in our lives.”
Mum and Sophia stood up to walk back to the living room. As Mum passed through the doorway, Sophia stopped and looked back at the dresser where the pearl necklace was resting inside. She smiled. How wonderful to know that even though she had two pearl necklaces, one real and one for dress up, there was something even more wonderful waiting for her when she got to heaven.
PICTURE CREDIT: pexelfreeimages
