I have very few "treasured possessions" due to the amount of moving I have done over the past 6 years...but back home, I do have one treasured possession...in the form of a fishing pole. Its not just any fishing pole, mind you. It is a very special fishing pole. It is one that my Grandpa Page made for me a long time ago. When I was growing up, I was a complete tom boy and on any given summer day, you could find me down at the local pond fishing with a friend of mine. I remember one time riding my bike to the pond with my pole in hand...and it got caught in the spokes of my tire! I was horrified as I realized what I had just done; broken the tip off it. So I went back home and at some point in that year, we went to see my grandparents and my grandpa fixed that rod for me. As I have gotten older and as my grandparents are now in Heaven, that pole has become all the more special to me. I hardly use it in fear of breaking it again. But whenever I see it, fond memories overtake me. That pole is one of my few "treasured possessions".

So I am now into the book of Deuteronomy...chapter 7, verse 6! And it reads:

"The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be His people, His treasured possession."

I know the direct context of this is talking about the Israelites, but the fact is that those of us who are followers of Christ- who are God's children- we are God's treasured possession. If that doesn't send warm fuzzies shooting through your body, I don't know what will. Out of all the world, He chose us to be His children, His representatives, His "treasured possessions". The thing about God, though, that differs from my fishing pole is that whereas I just look at that rod and don't use it...God uses us and bends us and stretches us and sometimes even breaks us carefully with His hands of Love...just to mold us into the treasured possession that He has created us to be. So for me, tomorrow when I am frustrated up to my ears with teaching, and it seems I will never catch up on my school work...I can take refuge in the fact that even if I fall flat on my face, I'm still a treasured possession...chosen out of all the peoples. That's pretty sweet.