Exactly How Much Must We Sacrifice?

      What a tough question. It is hard to answer because the exact amount is different for each of us. To help answer this question, I want to include a story that I found in a personal work training manual by Brent Hunter. He attributes it to Juan Carlos Ortiz. It is called “The Pearl of Great Price Illustrated.”

“I want this pearl, how much is it?”

“Well,” the seller says, “it’s very expensive.”

“But, how much?” we ask.

“Well, a very large amount.”

“Do you think I could afford to buy it?”

“Oh, of course, everyone can buy it.”

“But, didn’t you say it was very expensive?”

“Yes.”

“Well, how much is it?”

“Everything you have,” says the seller.

We make up our minds. “All right, I’ll buy it,” we say.

“Well, what do you have?” he wants to know. “Let’s write it down.”

“Well, I have ten thousand dollars in the bank.”

“Good, ten thousand dollars. What else?”

“That’s all. That’s all I have.”

“Nothing more?”

“Well, I have a few dollars in my pocket.”

“How much?”

We start digging. “Well, let’s see: thirty, forty, sixty, eighty, a hundred, a hundred-twenty dollars.”

“That’s fine. What else do you have?”

“Well nothing. That’s all.”

“Where do you live?” He’s still probing.

“In my house. Yes, I have a house.”

“The house, too then.” He writes that down.

“You mean I have to live in my camper?”

“You have a camper? That too. What else.”

“I’ll have to sleep in my car.”

“You have a car?”

“Two of them.”

“Both of them become mine, both cars. What else?”

“Well, you already have my money, my house, my camper, my cars. What more do you want?”

“Are you alone in the word?”

“No, I have a wife and two children…”

“Oh, yes, your wife and children, too. What else?”

“I have nothing else. I am left alone now.”

Suddenly the seller exclaims, “Oh, I almost forgot. You, yourself, too. Everything becomes mine—wife, children, house, money, cars, and you, too.”

Then he goes on. “Now listen, I will allow you to use all these things for the time being. But don’t forget they are mine, just as you are. And whenever I need any of them you must give them up, because I am the owner.”

Edwin L. Crozier