Thursday, January 6, 2011

The Potter's hand!

Well as some of you know, I love making things, creating beauty. Whether it is painting a painting, planting a container garden, creating a fabulous gourmet dinner for friends, or some other type of art, I love to create. I guess you could say it's one way I can relate to God in His creative power and enjoy the process and end result! I recently purchased a pottery wheel from a wonderful woman in my town. This was a huge deal for me due to the fact that I have been wanting one for about three years. Many of my friends were able to share in my joy because they had heard me dream about this for quite a while! I was finally able to use it this evening and I was extremely excited! Three hours later I had created two, soon to be, coffee cups(one is slightly lopsided), and helped my youngest daughter throw her first piece of pottery, a bowl.

Now you may be saying to yourself, "Wow! That took her a very long time to just end up with two cups and a bowl!" While they are small and I am slow at it due to the fact that I haven't thrown in a while, that is not the reason that it took so long. Aside of getting everything ready, and changing the bats(round flat plastic pieces that you actually put the clay on) between throws, there is a very important step that can actually make or break your pottery throwing experience! This crucial step is the centering of the clay! Ahhhhhh, yes! Without having your clay perfectly centered, you can end up with a mess like the first piece I threw that is now sitting in the recycle bucket, or you can have a lopsided cup, like the second cup I threw!

As I struggled with the second blob of clay, trying to get it centered I was thinking of God being the potter and me as the clay. No matter how hard I tried, how much pressure I applied, the clay still refused to submit to my desire to center it! As it lobbed round and round on the wheel, like a bucking bronco trying to have it's own way, I wondered how many times this is how I have acted with God when He is simply trying to center me. How many times have I fought His steady hand and not heeded His firm pressure to get me into proper position to make beauty of my life? I thought of how frustrating it was for me with this little bit of clay, and how I stopped a few times out of this frustration. Then just when I was ready to give up, the clay was centered! How grateful I am that God does not get frustrated with me when I am fighting and trying to kick and push away His all knowing loving hands! I am so thankful that even when I am going about things my own way because I think my way of lobbing through life like drunken sailor is the right way, that He does not give up on me! He lovingly persists, knowing that if I am centered on Him I am exactly where I should be so that He can Gloria Gaither says, "make something beautiful of my life!"

I saw a prominent singer on a YouTube video singing Hallelujah and it almost brought tears to my eyes asking myself, "Does she even know what she was singing that day?" Hallelujah means Praise be to Yahweh! What a great word that says so much! Hallelujah!

Today was a little challenging, stresses of the day and one of the children acting like that lobbing clay, I was challenged in my focus today but was able to stand. Hallelujah! Here it is so very late and I'm wrapping this up with knowing no matter the stresses of the day, God is still God, and I don't want to be a lopsided cup!

1 comment:

  1. He turns even the most undesirable into a masterpiece!!!

    Teresa

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