Chapter 1 – Five Minutes to Ten
Chapter 2 – Ten O'Clock
Chapter 3 – Seeking Goodly Pearls

CHAPTER THREE:
SEEKING GOODLY PEARLS

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

"Why, it's a Bible!" said Doreen to herself as she carefully lifted the Book out of the box. "And to think that I threw it across the room like that!
"And what a beauty it is!" she went on. "Look at the gold edges with the red shining through! And what thin paper and lovely leather! It's just like a jewel box, anyway."
Inside, on the first blank page, Doreen read her name and the following message:
"To our darling Doreen on her tenth birthday from Mamma and Daddy."
Underneath that was a text:
"Acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee. Receive, I pray thee, the law from His mouth, and lay up His words in thine heart." Job 22:21,22

Doreen ran downstairs. "Mamma dear, have I found the first jewel?"
Mamma smiled. "I believe you have," she said.
"But how can I find some more?" asked Doreen.
"Why not look for a string of pearls?" said mamma. "And while you are looking for those, you may come across diamonds, sapphires, rubies, emeralds, and other precious stones."
"But how shall I find them?" asked Doreen.
"Oh, you won't find them all at once," said mamma, "but put them down on a piece of paper as you come across them. Keep on the lookout for beautiful texts and sentences beginning with 'P.' They will do for pearls. Those beginning with 'R' will do for rubies, 'E' for emeralds, and 'D' for diamonds. See?"
"Yes," said Doreen, "what a lovely idea!"
"I can think of a pearl," said mamma.
"Tell me," said Doreen.
"It is in the fourteenth chapter of John," said mamma. "'Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you.' John 14:27. Then there's another beautiful pearl: 'Perfect love casteth out fear.'" 1 John 4:18.

"I think I know one," said Doreen. "'Praise ye the Lord!'"
"That's right," said mamma. "There's a whole string of those pearls in the Psalms. You must see how many of them you can find. Open your jewel box about Psalms 112 or 113."
Very carefully Doreen opened her beautiful new Bible, turning the thin leaves as if they were made of gold. "Yes," she cried eagerly, "I can see two, three, four pearls all at once!" Then a moment or two later, "And I have found another. Listen, Mamma; this is a beautiful jewel."
"Read it to me," said mamma.
"'Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.'" Ps. 116:15
"Yes, that is a beautiful pearl indeed," said mamma. "and I have just thought of another: 'Pray ye the Lord of the harvest, that He would send forth laborers into his harvest.' Matt. 9:38. That means that we should always be asking Jesus to sent out more and more missionaries to help tell the black boys and girls of His love for them."
"Tell me where I can find some more pearls," said Doreen.
"Let me think," said mamma. "I know. Read carefully through the sixteenth chapter of Proverbs and tell me if you can find any there."

"I will," said Doreen. There was silence for a little while, then a cry of delight. "I have found a ruby!" she said.
"Have you, dear? What is it?" asked mamma.
"'Righteous lips are the delight of kings.'"
"Splendid," said mamma. "And that means that Jesus is pleased when the speak the truth, for His is a King, too. Now look for some more."
"Here is another pearl," cried Doreen. "This chapter is a little jewel box all to itself. Isn't this a beautiful one: 'Pleasant words are as a honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones'?"
"Yes," said mamma. "That is beautiful indeed. And don't you think that this sort of jewel box is really much more lovely than one filled with just ordinary pearls and diamonds? They would sparkle and shine and seem very pretty while we looked at them in the box, but we would have to shut them up and put them away. But these jewels from this wonderful Book we can carry about with us all day long, and they become more and more beautiful the longer we look at them."
"Yes, Mamma," said Doreen, "they sort of go on sparkling in our heads afterward, don't they?"
"I believe you are right," said mamma with a smile. "That's just what they do."