Article September 2, 2013 Issue

A pearl of great price

Désirée Goyette

When I was a little girl, our home was always filled with music, including classical, jazz, and swing. I loved watching my parents drop all their work-a-day cares to dance across the kitchen floor to the sound of Glenn Miller’s classic “A String of Pearls.” There was just something “perfect” about that recording, with a title that had to do with every note being in place and shining like pearls in a necklace.

When I remember that tune, I can’t help thinking of a well-known Bible passage from Matthew 13 in which Jesus likens the kingdom of heaven to a merchant “seeking goodly pearls.” And, as the story goes, “when he had found one pearl of great price, [he] went and sold all that he had, and bought it” (verses 45, 46).

Finding that one pearl is something I’ve thought about a lot. I’ve yearned for a way to distill all the words and wisdom I’ve been exposed to into something as flawless as that pearl. For me, one of the recurring gems of wisdom is the idea of being present “in the moment”—accepting that one of life’s paradoxes is the acceptance that our future prospects so often relate to our ability to pay attention to the present, even though that can be daunting.