The necklace

Link of the Day
Remote Treechanger

Saying for the Day:

Remember, if you’re headed in the wrong direction, God allows U-turns! ~Allison Gappa Bottke

Picture of the Day:

The Days Wrap UP :

Melli has called for a dragon hunt. Every day for seven days she wants us to post dragon pictures. Here is my first one.Just think how wonderful it would be if dragons showed up all over the net. This dragon is Francis and doesn't like my elf tales.Great Church service this morning. There were two very good sermons. One was for the children and the other for the adults but both were great. Came home and put the pictures from this morning on the St. Mark's website. Which is now up to date. In the afternoon I took a nap. Then I visited blogs and then watched the Olympics. Betty and Pennie have gone to VBS. Now I need a breathing treatment.
GBYA

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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 c hores 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 birth day. 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 our Heavenly Father. He is waiting for us to give up the cheap things in our lives so that he can give us beautiful treasures.

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

News from Pigeon Falls
-The little town in my basement where the trains still run, dragons fly, and life is back to normal. Sometimes one wonders why they put out a schedule for Pigeon Days at all. Art on the Lake of the Loons which was scheduled for August 1-5 has been rescheduled to August 10-16 and moved from the Lake of the Loons to the Yellow Brick Road. It seems that it was decided the whale and the tours were too much of a distraction. A notice was sent out to all the artists who had registered and to all who registered in previous years. A revised schedule was sent to all UP papers. It looks as if everything is going to work out well. A large number of artists came in on the milk tain and are setting up along the yellow brick road. There are painters and some sculpture and the guy with those crazy iron things that look like car accidents.
Nancy is getting somebody else to look after the shop this afternoon so she can go and look at the art. All of it, of course, is for sale. Last year almost all of it sold including that crazy iron stuff. One guy from Chicago paid $3000 for one of those things. She hopes to get some nice art to hang in the coffee shop.
Pastor Joan put aside her usual lectionary based sermon and talked about great Christian artists and their contributions to the church. She pointed out that these artists were driven by their love of Christ to share their vision in sculpture, stained glass, and paintings. The entire Church has been enriched by their vision.