day no. 14,362: twice as nice

Exodus 15:16

the people pass by whom you have purchased.

I heard a story once of a boy who built a small wooden boat. He delighted in watching his boat float until a current took it away from him beyond his reach. The boy watched his boat disappear down the stream and despaired that his precious little boat was gone forever. Months later the boy, walking by a local store, saw his boat behind the glass looking worse for wear. The boy recognized his boat by the faded markings he had specifically made. The boy entered the store and discovered the price was more than he had. He gave himself to honest, hard labor diligently working to earn the purchase price. Upon receiving his wages, he ran to the store, praying that no one else had purchased his boat. He joyfully discovered it still there in the window of the store. He gladly put his hard-earned wages on the counter and gathered back to himself his little toy wooden boat. He delighted in his boat because it was now twice his. He had made it and now he had purchased it. So too God made His people and so now they were twice His: they were His by creation and now they were His by purchase. He double owned them to His joy and their good.