The Potter's Hands

A few weeks ago I secretly had a ceramics lesson with Laura, who is currently in the class. It was such a wonderful and fun experience. I have worked with clay before, but I have never done wheel throwing. The whole thing was a process that had such meaning to me when I thought about our Potter.

First, the clay is really tough, so you have to throw it as hard as you can to soften it. Sometimes, God has to take us through storms and even fire in order to speak to us and to get us to have softened hearts. Next, we had to center the clay on the wheel. Without being centered, the whole thing would fall apart. Without keeping God our center and our focus, this will happen to us, too. After that, you can start to make whatever it is you are making. Laura kept telling me that I needed to add more water because it dries out quickly. This made me think of prayer and time with God. We are only nourished and able to be filled vessels when we are filled with Him. We need more and more of this. We can never have enough. I decided to make a bowl for my first item. Getting the clay to look like a bowl took many steps. However, towards the end, after my hands had softened the clay and worked with it a great deal, it started to follow every slight movement that my hands went. Soon, I had a beautiful bowl (at least I thought so). Again, this reminds me of our Potter. Even when He speaks to us and we know He is working, we sometimes still want to hold on ourselves. We don't know what the outcome is going to look like. But, when we choose to give our lives 100% to the Potter's hands, we can freely be molded into something beautiful. Then, the Potter looks at His work and is so proud. He forgets all about the beginning steps and the resistance; He only sees beauty.

I am so thankful that I had this experience. The song, "Potter's Hand" was always one of my favorites, but now that phrase has a whole new meaning.