The Potter & the clay

This is a great post by a friend of mine, made on the discussion forum of my church (www.thecanopy.ca). I'm posting it hear with her permission b/c I think it'd benefit a lot of people. Thanks, Donloree!
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I have always loved the imagery in the Bible of us being the clay and God being the potter. On Sunday as I worked away on pottery I had some thoughts and so I decided to share them with you! The thing that most people don’t realize is that clay doesn't just get thrown onto the wheel and out comes an amazing piece, there is actually a lot of preparation that goes into the clay prior to being thrown.

I realized that we are more like clay than we would ever have realized. God has to work in us and make us usable clay prior to shaping us into what he wants us to be. Clay has to be malleable, but not too wet and not too hard. If the clay is too hard you can use it, but it takes a lot of work for it to be useable. The hard clay has to be broken apart into very small pieces and then soaked in water for some time so that it becomes soft enough to be molded back together. Then you have to knead it until it all of the excess water is worked out and the clay is uniform throughout. I think about when we are hard, how God has to break us and we need to soak in him to be usable again. The process seems painful and long, but if we don't go through it we will never be formed, rather we will sit on the shelf as a large lump of clay that is completely useless. Then while all the excess water is being squeezed out of us we think that we are being used again, when we are simply going through more of the preparation phase to be formed into what he wants to make us.

Clay has a certain amount of memory and needs to be worked into a new shape prior to being thrown. Usually it has been sitting in a box for months and needs to be worked so that it is all moving in the right direction. At first the clay is hard and stiff, but after awhile it becomes pliable and correctly shaped to be able to throw it. I would say that is true about us as well. When all we do it sit around not doing anything it takes a lot of work to make us even want to get moving and want to be shaped into something that God can use. We would rather stay in our square shape and think we are something that will be used than submit ourselves to the beginnings of formation.

The most critical part of throwing is the centering stage. The clay must be centered on the wheel perfectly for the piece that is being made to be well balanced and usable. The centering process is what takes the longest and the most focus. It takes a strong, stiff hand to make the clay centered. The clay is pushed and shoved into the center and cannot even begin to be shaped until it is centered. So often in life people want to be used, but refuse center themselves around God and take time to listen to what he is saying to them. If we continue to refuse to submit to God's centering we won't be shaped into what he has planned to make us. We will continue to fight against the stiff unmoving hand that wants to create something beautiful in us. When we submit we finally flourish and begin to be used by the potter.

Once the clay is centered the potter becomes gentle as harsh movements can cause damage to what is being created. Gentle prodding causes the compliant clay to simply fall into the shape that the potter desires. Also the potter continually pours water on the clay as it is being changed, stretched and shaped so that it won't dry out and will be able to be continually formed. God constantly pours grace out on us and the Holy Spirit keeps us soft and usable while we are being changed and formed. God does not desire that we dry out; rather he is patient, compassionate and full of mercy for us while his gentle hand works us into the shape he desires for our lives.

So let's refuse to be big, hard lumps of dirt! Let's submit ourselves to the almighty potter's hand and something beautiful will be shaped into our lives while he softens and makes us into something he can use - the very thing he desires us to be in the world!