The Potter's Wheel

I have always aspired to make pottery.  One day, when I was in the art building at college, I decided to swing by the ceramics studio to watch the skillful artists sculpt their work on the pottery wheel. It isn't an easy job to take a lifeless lump of damp clay and shape it into a beautiful piece of work. Many times, the clay crumbles and the Potter has to start over, each movement with careful precision. Observing the intimate interaction between the tough clay and the Potter's gentle hands, I began to wonder what the end product was going to look like. Would it be a vase? A bowl? A cup?

But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. Then the word of the LORD came to me. He said, "Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?" declares the LORD. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel." Jeremiah 18:4-6


The question posed to Jeremiah in this verse stands for us as well. "Can I, the Lord, not reshape and restore you just as the potter does? Do you trust that my plan for your life is best?" We serve a God who, out of intense love, desires to display His power through weak and marred pots like ourselves. With surrendered lives, He will not leave us marred and helpless on the pottery wheel. He wants to restore and reshape us into new creations. If a pot that is being formed on the wheel has a spot of weakness, it is only a matter of time until it will crumble. We all have those spots in our lives and times when it seems as though we have crumbled on the wheel. Take heart! Like clay in the hands of the potter, we too rest in the hands of the Almighty. Trust that the Creator of you, has the will and power to restore you to your feet, and ultimately, has the best plan for your life. Rest yourself in His gentle and strong hands and He will mold and shape you, for the love of Christ is transformational.

I walked away from the art building that day overwhelmed with the image of my Creator wanting to display His glory through my weak spots and crumbled mess. Like the artist with his clear vision of his artwork, so let us trust the Father with His clear vision for our lives and His ability to mold, restore and reshape. - JG