“SLEEPING ON A FORTUNE”
On the 23rd of August 2016, there was a story all over the news about what is probably the largest pearl ever discovered. An unidentified fisherman found the pearl inside a giant clam off Palawan Island in the Philippines – a site famous for many other large pearls. This pearl had grown so large that it began to take on the shape of the inside of the clam’s shell.
According to one source the current record-holder for “Largest Pearl” is the Pearl of Allah, discovered in 1939, weighed in at over 14 lbs. and fetched a price of $93 million. The pearl featured in this story, however, weighs nearly 75 lbs. and is more than one foot wide and two feet long.
What is puzzling about this story is that its owner discovered it more than a decade before. Why has he waited so long to bring it to light? He didn’t think it had any value and simply hid it under his bed, keeping it only as a good luck charm. Not knowing the treasure he possessed, the fisherman went on living in abject poverty – all while this “good luck charm” could have changed his fortunes astronomically.
Currently the pearl is in the care of the fisherman’s aunt, Aileen Cynthia Maggay-Amurao, who works on Palawan Island as a local government tourism officer. The monster-pearl is currently on display at the Atrium of New Green City Hall, Puerto Princesa City on Palawan Island until its authenticity and value can be officially established.
You know, I’m a fine one for sleeping on treasures, while I spend all my waking hours worrying over problems. I could be so much happier and more positive if I’d stop crying the blues and begin counting my blessings. God has filled my life with treasures, but I ignore them – until one of them is taken away. Then my thoughts are preoccupied with the loss of that “missed blessing.”
Isn’t it better to take inventory of all the good things I’ve already got, to treasure my spouse, my children, my friends, and the success I’ve enjoyed for many years? Isn’t it better to look heavenward and give thanks
that I wake up each day to a wonderful reality – that there is a God in heaven Who loves me, watches over me, supplies my every need, has a glorious plan for my life and has already purchased my redemption by sending His own Son to bear my sins and God’s judgments in my place on the cross – and Who now ever lives to intercede for me at the Father’s right hand? (Romans 8:31-39)
I suspect that I’m not a lone grumbler, the only one who peers at the green grass on the other side of the fence. I have a growing suspicion that we all sleep on many treasures from God. And if we’d only take inventory of them and cherish them, our lives would turn from night into day.
“Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God” (Ephesians 5:4, NLT).
PRAYER: Dear Father in heaven, thank You for all the treasures You have poured into my life. Please open my eyes to Your many blessings and reveal to me how wealthy I am. Please deliver me from a sour and complaining spirit and sustain me with an attitude of gratitude. Amen.
*(From The 593rd ESC Book of Inspiration for Spiritual Resiliency: Ch (LTC) David Causey)