The Shadow Of My Porch Swing - The Presence Of God - Part 2Sýnishorn

THE POTTER

Every year, my family visits an arts and crafts theme park in Missouri called Silver Dollar City. Each time we go, I visit the pottery shop.  I’m fascinated by the clay, mud, slip, glazes and kiln. Yes, I’m that annoying guest asking questions the whole time the artist is trying to work. Over the years, I’ve noticed a rhythm to the process and it all starts with a block of clay in a cardboard box. Every beautiful piece in that shop starts with flawed clay. It is full of bubbles, cracks and imperfections. The potter could choose to hastily shape a bowl or mug from a piece of that lump, but it would be destined for the trash. Hidden problems expose themselves once under fire. So as the potter sits and works the clay, folding it, pressing, removing and identifying flaws, it begins to take on a new identity. No longer a flawed lump of clay, it becomes a beautiful piece set aside to dry. 

But what happens when a problem arises while drying? A new crack or bubble revealed during isolation. I’ve learned that it’s not too late. Even bone dry pottery can be remade if exposed to a moist environment. Sometimes it’s a simple fix;  sometimes it becomes an entire reworking from a new inspiration. What was once a bowl, now a mug. A plate is now a pitcher. After glazing and firing, the newly worked piece shines gloriously.

Just like that clay, I am initially full of flaws and not good enough to withstand the refiner’s fire. God, my potter, could leave me as is but instead, he draws me up and out. If I am intent on being left alone, untouched and unworked, I am destined for destruction. On the other hand, when I surrender to His merciful hands, he sees my flaws and in love he remakes me, even if I’m bone dry. I have a new, useful identity. Reflecting his light and filled with his glory.

2 Corinthians 5:17 confirms this promise from God as Paul speaks truth about being made new. “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”

Do you feel too cracked and flawed to be useful? What area of your life do you need to surrender to God to be remade?

Father, thank you for seeing through my flaws and failures and placing your tender hands on me. I know you will never stop working to make my life into a beautiful, useful vessel. Help me live full of the new life you have given me.