We did a little of this...
and this...
lots of this...
met lots of friends...
and even did some of this...
Like so many of us that spent our summer by the bay, I am still reflecting on all that God taught me through this summer at Wabanna. I look back on all the fun and all the challenges and I am still sorting through it all. Still sorting through what it is that God revealed to me- and I am excited to share some of that with you on this blog throughout the fall!
For today I want to look at Jeremiah 18:3-6...
"So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do . Then the word of the LORD came to me: 'O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the LORD. Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.'"
Okay, so if you have ever made pottery, taken a ceramics class, played with play-doh, or even stuck your fingers in some of the dirt/clay of the ground, you can understand what God is saying here. Clay is so moldable so easily formed and shaped- but not on its own. It needs a potter (or a small child sticking his or her hands into some neon colored play-doh) to be shaped into anything. That is what I want of my relationship with the Lord- I want to be clay and allow him to be the potter. I want him to mold me and use me in whatever way he deems best.
Sometimes I act like play-doh that has been left out without its lid and I get all stiff and less moldable- harder for the potter to work with. I do this, I think, becuase I am sometimes afraid of how he will choose to mold and use me. I am afraid he will ask me to be something that is too hard or painful. I don't want to be used for anything too important. I am sometimes almost sure that I know best, not God, (ridiculous, I know) and I am just fine doing what it is I am doing in the shape that I am right now... no need to re-mold anything here, I mean, let's not get too crazy.
But then I remember that I am HIS clay. I am nothing if I do not allow my potter to mold me. I am not living for him as I have vowed to do, I am not living out his commands and desires for me, if I am not allowing him to work with me and mold me! What potter wants to work with stiff, difficult clay? Thankfully, he is always willing to work with me, I just have to allow him. Even if it means that he takes my clay, molds it, breaks it down, and molds it again- just as the potter did in the book of Jeremiah. "the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do". I love that part "as it seemed good to the potter to do"- this is going to sound silly so bear with me, but it was not the clay that cried out to say "this is not the shape I want to be in! This is now how I want to be used!" No, of course not, the clay was remolded as the potter knew what would be best for the clay.
It does seem a little strange, how much I just referred to myself as a lump of clay- but it is truly a great metaphor that the Lord gives us in scripture. And such a great reminder- that he is in charge... he is the potter, and I am the clay- the clay in his hands.
posted by: tara
