God and Ceramics
“And yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We all are formed by your hand.” Isaiah 64:8
How many of you have taken Ceramics at camp? I used to LOVE taking it as a camper, but I was never very good at the wheel. I could never get my pot centered quite right, and before I knew it, that wheel would start spinning so fast, making my whole creation just sag to the side. I used to joke that I was a ceram-disaster instead of a ceramic master – I just could never quite get it right.
Sometimes I feel that same way about my life. How often do I feel like a disaster instead of a master? I can’t quite get anything right most of the time – I never have enough time; I’m not praying like I wish that I was; I don’t read my Bible as much as I’d hope to; our family isn’t doing as much volunteer work as I picture we should; we don’t read the Jesus Storybook Bible as often as I’d like; I forget to text friends who I know are having a hard time….the list could keep going and going and going.
When I look at each day, it can sometimes feel like there is a much longer list of what I wanted to do instead of what I actually accomplished.
There’s this verse in Romans 7 that feels like the anthem of my life sometimes: “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” Can I get an “amen”? Life can often feel like a whole lot of things that I wish I hadn’t done, or wish I had done but just didn’t!
Even when I feel this way, I have to remind myself that I am still a work in progress. God isn’t finished with me yet! Just because everything seems to be off and not turning out the way I want it to be, the Lord is a potter still shaping me into what I am going to be.
Isaiah 64:8 says that “LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We all are formed by your hand.” I like to picture God sitting on the ceramics deck at camp, with His hands on that wheel, and He just keeps working on that pot. Even when it starts to go a little off, His hands are right there to put it back to center. It’s my life he’s shaping – I’m the clay, He’s the potter, and I’m getting formed by His hands.
The next time you feel like you just don’t measure up or just can’t quite get things right, take a second to picture yourself as clay in your Father’s hands – still a work in progress with a great God helping to shape you into what you are going to be… His precious creation!
Take a minute to even say this prayer: “Lord, everything feels out of whack right now. I just feel like I’m falling apart. Thank you for being a great Father who is still working on me. Help me to believe this today!”