Being Clay

There are two images in the Bible pertaining to clay that I love.

The one is where Paul writes that we are jars of clay (2 Cor 4:7). We are fragile and yet God chose us to carry His message of Good News around the world and through time. This is a mystery, there are so many ways that would have been more effective.

Once a clay pot is broken, it is beyond repair. In our community, Kleipot (Clay Pot), new members break a clay pot at the Sunday service and attempt to glue it together during the following Wednesday's prayer meeting. Our new members will glue their pot together tonight.

I remember our optimism when we set out to 'fix our pot'. This would be the first 'properly fixed' pot in the community (and history, for that matter ;-)). To start with, we only had one tube of Superglue. We had to go out to buy more. When we ran out of glue again, it was too late to go out and buy even more, so we used chewing gum.

It was good fun. You get to know the people around the table a lot better. It will always be a reminder of the miracle that God chose unadorned vessels like you and me to be the keepers of His message. We carry this message in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives.

We read about the other image in Jeremiah 18. The LORD sends Jeremiah down to the potter's house with a promise to speak to hm there. When Jeremiah gets to the potter, he observed how the potter put a lump of clay on the wheel and turned it. When it did not look the way he planned, he started again.

God then draws the parallel - "I am the Potter and you are the clay". God plans, moulds, forms. God has the power to erase all I have ever been. Yet, this image should not be scary.

It also tells of a God who is full of mercy, shows grace and is prepared to start again.

Today - I am just the clay and God is the Potter. My friend, Tom, commented yesterday that he sometimes wishes that the shaping could be done easier. He suggested that it has to do with the pliability of our hearts. When our hearts are hard it might need the 'devastating experiences' to form it. When our hearts are soft the whisper of our Creator will do.

May God create a clean and pliable heart in me today. May He teach you and me His ways. May He remind us of the miracle of being clay in the Potter's hand as well as broken clay jars chosen to carry His message of hope.