"The Kingdom of Heaven is like a pearl merchant on the lookout for choice pearls. He discovered a real bargain - a pearl of great value - and sold everything he owned to purchase it!"

BIBLE TIMES FACTS
During the times of Jesus the main sorce of pearls was the Red Sea. People enjoyed pearls for their beauty as well as their monetary value. Merchants searched the market places of the world looking for pearls of great beauty. Today pearls can be found in rings, bracelets and earrings.

Did You Know?
Pearls come from way down under the ocean. People use to swim way down under the ocean to find oysters on the bottom of the sea. Then they brought these oysters up on the land, and opened them. Sometimes they found beautiful pearls inside. They took the pearls out and sold them at markets. Pearls today are mostly taken from oyster farms because going to the bottom of the ocean is dangerous.

The pearl itself actually begins as an irritant. Sand, a pebble, or a pesky parasitic organism gets inside the oyster's shell. To reduce the irritation, the oyster coats the intruder with layers of a solid, slick material called nacre. To learn more go to Newton's Apple.

Jesus knows that people want and desire beautiful things, like the pearl in this parable. But Jesus is the pearl of all pearls, the pearl of the greatest value. The merchant recognized that this pearl was worth more than all the other pearls put together. Our salvation and our faith in God are more valuable than all of our possessions combined.

When we realize God's will for our lives, we should be like the merchant and surrender totally to God's will for our lives. To accept God's will may require giving up ambitions, or sacrificing our comforts. The most important thing is to keep Jesus in the center of our lives.

The most extraordinary thing about the oyster is this: irritations get into his shell. The oyster does not like them. But when he cannot get rid of them, he uses the irritation to do the loveliest thing an oyster ever has a chance to do.

If there are irritations in our lives today, there is only one prescription: make a pearl.

Harry Emerson Fosdick

The Ballad of the Oyster

There once was an oyster
Whose story I tell,
Who found that some sand
Had got into its shell.

It was only a grain,
But it gave him great pain;
For oysters have feelings
Although they're so plain.

Now, did he berate
The harsh workings of fate
That had brought him
To such a deplorable state?

Did he curse at the government,
Cry for election,
And claim that the sea should
Have given him protection?

No! He said to himself
As he lay on a shell,
"Since I cannot remove it,
I'll try to improve it."

Now the years have rolled by,
As the years always do,
And he came to his ultimate
Destiny--stew.

And the small grain of sand
That had bothered him so
Was a beautiful pearl
All richly aglow.

Now the tale has a moral;
For isn't it grand
What an oyster can do
With a small grain of sand?

What couldn't we do
If we'd only begin
With some of the things
That get under our skin.

Author Unknown

Remember that every pearl got its start irritating an oyster.

CLASS ACTIVITY
Divide your class into two teams. Use a ring, or another piece of jewelry to represent the pearl. Have one member of Team A leave the room. A member of Team B hides the pearl in the room. When the person comes back he searches for the pearl. His team can coach him by saying "You're cold," when he is far from the treasure and, "You're hot," when he is close. Like the devil can lead us to wrong paths, the opposing team can give wrong commands, so the seeker will need to remember who is on his team. When he finds the treasure, (Pearl), a member of Team B leaves the room, and a different member of Team A hides the pearl. The game continues until everyone has a turn at hiding and finding the pearl.

MEMORY VERSE
"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."
(Romans 8:28).