The Potter's Wheel Moments of Life

I listen, and think, reflect on the words.  I've heard them a thousand times before, today I listened from a different place.

God is the Potter,

We are the Clay.

Clay shaped into vessels.  Beauty born of a fragile nature.  We are shaped for unique purpose, but so easily chipped and cracked.  Clay vessels, broken, filled with disease, cancer riddled.  This is the reality of the Potter's clay.

And yet, the Word speaks hope, for whenever "the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands, the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him." (Jeremiah 1:4 NIV) 

We have been made by God to be just as we are, designed right down to our DNA.  He is the Potter and we are the Clay.  He is touching, smoothing, kneading, bending, and molding us into things of grace, both useful and lovely.   That shaping is hard, the clay becomes stiff and oft times difficult.  I have been there... I am there, chafing at the bending from this cancer diagnosis.  Words fell soft on my spirit this day and I heard the lessons spoken from the Clay:

1.  The clay has no right to criticize the Potter, for in the eyes of God you are not a mistake...

2.  The clay has no say in the Potter's design, for God has a purpose in mind for each of his creations...

3.  The clay has no power to shape itself, for God created a longing in each of us for His touch alone....

To become a vessel that glorifies God, can I learn to submit my life to each moment that God's Hand uses to shape me?

* sometimes it's pleasureable; I think of the shaping of our family through the miraculous births of our children, but

* sometimes it's painful: the molding of our lives through the harrowing trial of mom's cancer, 

* either way, it always, always serves God's purposes.

And in Romans 9:23 His purpose rings sweetly over us.  To make the riches of His glory known to the objects of His mercy.  Us, granted His mercy in simple clay vessels, shown riches beyond imagination, His glory.

I listened, now I think... the shaping of my life these last months has been hard.  I have refused to see that pancreatic cancer can serve any purpose, let alone Heavenly gain.  Not that God has brought this disease upon us, for we live in a broken world, but can I see that God can use this cancer to shape me? To reveal the riches of His Grace, a wealth beyond comprehension?

I try to see how these moments, these trials have shaped me, changed me.  Perhaps more compassion, for indeed I now view those struggling hard with my heart's eye.  And yes, He is shaping more patience into my life, for now the busyness of life has faded and the priorities have focused.  And, too, time has expanded, for the things, the ones who matter.  Ultimately it has turned my soul to the Light, for His Love promises to perfect that which He has begun... 

I ponder the shaping and the molding.   The Potter's wheel moments of Life.  Changing us more and more into His Likeness, where all the riches of His glory will be revealed, a radiance beyond description. 

He is bending us all with this cancer journey.  Where the clay is marred, we pray that His touch turns us into a vessels overflowing with grace and mercy,

We will bend, but never break, He promises...