The Necklace
The cheerful little 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 mommy please, Mommy. Can I have them? Please, Mommy, please?”
Quickly the mother checked the back of the little foil box and then looked back into the pleading blue eyes of her little girl’s upturned face.
“A dollar ninety-five. That’s almost $2.00. 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. Your birthday’s only a week away and you might get another crisp dollar bill from Grandma.”
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 and she went to the neighbor and asked Mrs. McJames if she could pick dandelions for ten cents. On her birthday,Grandma did give her another new dollar bill and at last she had enough money to buy the necklace.
Jenny loved her pearls. They made her feel 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 had a bubble bath. Mother said if they got wet, they might turn her neck green.
Jenny 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 as he finished the story, he asked Jenny, “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 very favorite.”
“That’s okay, Honey, daddy loves you. Good night.” And he brushed her cheek with a kiss.
About a week later, after the story time, Jenny’s 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 beautiful and you can have the yellow blanket that matches her sleeper.”
“That’s okay. Sleep well. God bless you, little one. Daddy loves you.”
And as always, he brushed her cheek with a gentle kiss.
A few nights later 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 anything 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; this is 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 had them all the time… He was just waiting for her to give up the dime-store stuff so he could give her the genuine treasure.
So it is, with God. He is waiting for us to give up the cheap things in our lives so that he can give us beautiful treasures.
Are you holding onto things that God wants you to let go of?
Are you holding on to harmful or unnecessary partners, relationships, habits and activities that you have come 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.
Reposted from Dec 2009
2:41 pm
Very beautiful masha’Allah!!!
Can you please let me have this story so that i can post it on the masjid stand ? ? ? 😀
I like it really much and it is interesting, cheerful and to the point. May Allah bless you so that we may read more and more of these simple but wise examples.
I will add your website if you dont mind.
12:41 pm
You may print the story off and display in the Masjid, with the link added as you have said.
Wasalam
8:55 am
May i post it in my blog?
12:40 pm
Yes you may, please include a link back to this site, Jazakallah.
6:25 pm
SubhanaAllah what a very moving story and a great parable story way of saying it! MashaAllah very well done.
4:12 am
Mashallah ! What a beautiful story. I Don’t know what to say other then we should all try to do what Jenny did. She was willing to sacrifice something that is dear to her for the love of who is dear to her. As we all should sacrifice things that may be dear to us for the love of Allah.
Jazakallah Khair for posting this.
4:28 pm
the necklace was
the best story you could ever hear
12:58 am
Mashallah
Vey inspiring story… 🙂
4:54 am
Oh beautiful! Thnks.
5:55 pm
As salaam wa alikum, beautiful story thanks for sharing, great lesson to be learnt.
11:07 pm
Mashallah
1:32 pm
It was really interisting
5:12 pm
Awesome. Pl.posts some more stories like this.Jajakallahkhair.
12:44 am
Allah is the master over all things, so if he ask you to break off that bad things in you, do it without hesitation, for he alones know what he has he reseerve for you.
Jazakallah, bro Ahmad!