Not all treasure is silver and gold!
As my mama was designing this beautiful seashell print for the swimming suits, I could not help but reminisce on the countless hours my sisters and I spent walking up and down the beach, carefully searching for the perfect seashells to add to our prized collection. The criteria was never that we were looking for perfection— for each of our individual ideas of the “perfect” seashell was very subjective. Value was never found in perfection. What we treasured most was striking colors, unique textures, and varying shapes.
Now that I’m older, I see the pure seashell hunting that my sisters and I did in a new light. Deuteronomy 7:6 says that “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.”
Those seashells that my sisters and I carefully searched for were not treasured because of anything they did. Just like that, we are not treasured by what we do or accomplish, but simply because of the fact that the one who has created us, treasures us. That’s it. For God is love. “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:9-10, NIV).
In the kindness and mercy of God, he reminds us of this truth over and over and over again, I know I sure am grateful for the repeated reminder! So again, in Deuteronomy 10:14-15 we are reminded of his love and how he sees his children— “To the LORD your God belongs the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. Yet the LORD set his affection on your ancestors and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all nations—as it is today.” Praise be to God that the joy and confidence I have from being in fellowship with the one who created me is not based on anything I decided, but purely based on the fact he set his affection on me. I have the beautiful responsibility of proclaiming to you that he sets that affection on you too. He pursues you and loves you in unfathomable ways. So know him! “Taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8, NIV)! Learn of his character and of his will and devote yourself to him for he offers constant and eternal communion with his very own spirit!
Picture yourself searching tirelessly for that which you treasure most, and allow that to illuminate your understanding of the way in which the Good Father has tirelessly searched for you!
Not all treasure is silver and gold. In fact, the most valuable treasure is that which is eternal and it far outweighs them all. The gift of knowing and belonging to he who is sovereign over all and creator over all is the ultimate treasure!! And he who created you DELIGHTS in you.
