Ever since I was little, I’ve loved art. I don’t think I could tell you the amount of art classes, camps, and tutorials I’ve taken and watched. I will pretty much soak in any bit of instruction I can get when it comes to art.
I remember in one of my first art classes, the teacher, Mrs. Moody, would take us to a pottery studio once a year. Let’s just say that was definitely my favorite day, and I looked forward to it every year!
The workers there took you through the whole process of making clay pots and sculptures all the way up to placing them in the kiln. (plus, they gave us donuts, soooo)
I remeber the instructors would set us down at the pottery wheel and show us the basics of turning a giant, heavy lump of clay into a pot, and before long, we all got the hang of it.
As soon as I got the clay in my hand, I would start envisioning exactly how I wanted the finished product to look, whether blue or purple, striped or solid, tall or short, handle or no handle. Once I had a picture in my head, I would start to get the shape of the pot down. Then, once that was done, I would smooth out the lumps and voila- a finished pot, well, not completely. It had to be put in the kiln first, so I would stand up and, with a big smile, and hand my masterpiece to one of the workers.
And I wasn’t the most patient kid, so believe me when I tell you waiting for the pot to bake was pure torture! I would pass the time, though, by thinking about what I was going to do with the pot, how I could use it, and where I would place it.
I think that’s exactly God’s heart for us, and I think that’s the image He wants us to think of when we read in Isaiah 64:8, ” But now, O’ Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you our potter; we are the work of Your hand.”
I believe He wants us to imagine Him as the Potter sculpting us in His perfect image. I believe He wants us to see Him pour all His love into us and because of that, creating every moment of our lives for His glory and to prosper us.
I know He wants us to see the molding of the pot from a lump of clay to a masterpiece as exactly what He does with us.
I believe He wants us to see that every pot looks different, and that no pot’s “journey” is the same, and I believe He wants His children to envision Him as the Potter smiling down at His masterpiece.
Isaiah 45:9 says, “Woe to him who strives with Him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ or ‘Your work has no handles’?”
From your view-point, the place you’re in may not make sense or look the same as where someone else is. Your journey may not look the same as that girl. You might not be at all like her. In fact, it probably doesn’t look the same, and you probably aren’t like her.
But that’s the thing about our Potter, he doesn’t create copy after copy. He creates originals only, and He places them only where THEY will grow
Psalm 139:13-16 For You formed my inward parts; You knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are Your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in Your books were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when there was yet none of them.
1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple, and that His spirit dwells in you?
Isaiah 43:7 Everyone who is called by My name, whom I created for My glory, whom I formed and made.
Wonderfully written Zoe!! You are a treasure.