Merhaba everyone! This is Jennica! I wanted to share an awesome story I was blessed to experience today. Just a few hours ago our team visited a pottery shop. We were able to watch a potter shape a lump of seemingly boring and normal clay into a beautiful plate in just a few minutes. It was incredible to watch just a few simple and smooth hand motions form an amazing new creation. I was totally drawn into the movements of his careful and gentle hands. After I thought I'd seen the most amazing thing in the world, we were brought to another room where we witnessed the potter make a beautiful vase and I was struck again!
The man showing us around saw my dropped jaw and invited me sit next to the potter to watch and told me that I was next! They handed me a pair of long and poofy pants so as not to dirty my jeans - so kind - and I sat down at the wheel with a piece of clay spinning in front of me. The potter showed me how to shape the clay, as I had absolutely no idea what I was doing
, and I started to get the hang of it - well, sort of. I smooshed my beginnings-of-a-vase once but the potter helped me smooth out the rough patches and mold it back into its proper shape. After a few minutes work, and to my amazement, I had a pretty decent (if I do say so myself) bowl in front of me! I thanked the owner and he said he had never seen anyone so interested and amazed about the pottery, and therefore I was merited a try at it myself. What an incredible experience!
The team was frequently laughing at my silly awestruck facial expressions as I watched the potter work at his wheel, but more than being amazed at his work, I was truly taken by the vivid pitcure of God as our Potter - THE Potter. As I watched the potter of the shop carefully yet firmly molding his clay into the vase that was hidden inside, I was reminded of how God molds us, his clay as we grow with Him in our lives. Though we may only see ourselves as an ugly and common lump of clay, God sees his beautiful creation inside. He pushes the wheel of life, and lets us spin around as his hands gently start to form our being.
Sometimes, we may stray from his design and mess up - causing an ugly bend in the smooth surface. The Potter willingly welcomes us back into his tender hands and uses that bend to create a new detail in our shape.
, and I started to get the hang of it - well, sort of. I smooshed my beginnings-of-a-vase once but the potter helped me smooth out the rough patches and mold it back into its proper shape. After a few minutes work, and to my amazement, I had a pretty decent (if I do say so myself) bowl in front of me! I thanked the owner and he said he had never seen anyone so interested and amazed about the pottery, and therefore I was merited a try at it myself. What an incredible experience!The team was frequently laughing at my silly awestruck facial expressions as I watched the potter work at his wheel, but more than being amazed at his work, I was truly taken by the vivid pitcure of God as our Potter - THE Potter. As I watched the potter of the shop carefully yet firmly molding his clay into the vase that was hidden inside, I was reminded of how God molds us, his clay as we grow with Him in our lives. Though we may only see ourselves as an ugly and common lump of clay, God sees his beautiful creation inside. He pushes the wheel of life, and lets us spin around as his hands gently start to form our being.
Sometimes, we may stray from his design and mess up - causing an ugly bend in the smooth surface. The Potter willingly welcomes us back into his tender hands and uses that bend to create a new detail in our shape.
Sometimes, we feel that we are becoming dry and cracked, whether from weariness or resistance. The Potter, knowing all of his creation's needs, continues to add water to makes us wet and moldable again. God is constantly molding us throughout our lives, sometimes with a firm hand when he is trying to teach us to be willing to bend or stetch ourselves out to form a new curve in our shape. However, he never ceases to mold with care, precision and softness.
Other times, The Potter may feel that in order to further our shaping into perfection, we may need to enter into the kiln, where we will experience extreme and seemily unbearable heat - up to 3,600 degrees Farenheit. However, The Potter knows that we will never burn into a crisp or break apart. He knows we need to be refined through fire. It is a process that must happen in order to be brought to perfection. Just as it says in 1 Peter 1:6 -7, "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed".
The Potter knows what is best and sees our finished product even before we are near our glazing stage. Then, after we have lived our lives reflecting the work of our Potter's amazing Hands, we will join him in His shop, with His many other completed and beautiful masterpieces. Praise the beautiful Hands of our gracious and loving Potter!
"Yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand." Isaiah 64:8
"Yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand." Isaiah 64:8
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