A Lump Of Clay

Any student in middle school has probably made one.
Any parent of those children probably has one on display.
I have quite a few, in various colors and various shapes.
Ceramic gifts, handmade with love.

My ceramic pieces include votive candle holders and decorative clay pots.
They are very special to me because they have the character of the child that made it.
Some of my pots are lopsided with obvious thumbprints.
Some of my pots wobble when placed on a table.

The last pot I received had Van Gogh’s Starry Night painted around the outside.
Each pot is unique just like the person that made it for me.
I love to turn each one over and see the initials of the artist etched on the bottom.
Initials and date, permanently placed there with a toothpick.

My oldest daughter made a ceramic house for me.
It has a light bulb that goes inside and can be turned on with a switch.
When lit, it beckons all to come.

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you My message. So I went down to the potter’s house and I saw Him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands: so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. Then the word of the Lord came to me: “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like the clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand…” (Jeremiah 18:1-6)

God is the Master Potter.
He has formed each of us lovingly in His hands.
We are lumps of clay that He has molded and shaped.
He has spent time with each design.

The Master Potter does not make mistakes, yet sometimes our clay is marred.
He lovingly, carefully reshapes us as He sanctifies us to make us holy, as He is holy.
We have the Potter’s imprint permanently etched on us.
With His Light inside us, we beckon all to come.

I like that we are clay in the hands of the Master Potter.
In order to form clay into a pot, the clay has to be soft and pliable.
The Potter shapes us by bending the sides gently.
He smooths us on the inside and the outside.

Once formed, we are dried and heated.
The Master Potter knows the exact temperature of our heating.
It is never more than we can bear.

Without the heating, there wouldn’t be a pot!
Heating sets the design and glazing protects and seals it.
The Master Potter puts His Holy Spirit in us to seal us.

We have been sealed with the Holy Spirit.
We are refined in the fire.
We are etched with the Potter’s imprint which tells the world we are His.

Most people think of gold and silver as exquisite containers.
The Master Potter has purposely chosen simple clay.
It is in the simplicity of the clay that His artistry can be seen.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. (2 Corinthians 4:7-10)

The Master Potter sent His Son to be a Clay Pot.
Malleable, pliable, born of a woman, designed by the Potter’s Hands.
The Clay Pot that is Jesus had the perfect imprint of the Father.

It was necessary for the Son of the Potter to take on clay.
His clay was beaten, broken, and scarred, as the Master Potter looked away.
The Potter could not reshape His Son’s clay.
It had to be broken so that all the other clay pots could be beautiful and whole.

We are the Potter’s clay treasure.
Pliable, malleable, and unique.
We are lopsided, dented, imperfect, and so incredibly beautiful.
We carry around the Potter’s imprint, permanently etched on us.

The Potter does not make mistakes.
He creates Masterpieces from a lump of clay.
Clay in His Hands is exquisite.

Make me pliable in Your hands, O Majestic Potter.
May the world see Your beauty when they look at me.