Moldable?

North Carolina Pottery

Do you like pottery? One of my favorite things about going home to North Carolina is the pottery. There is a town about an hour from my parent’s house called Seagrove that is filled with potters, some of them are third and fourth generation potters. I have been many times and have collected some beautiful pieces through the years.

Cagle’s Pottery is one of my favorite places to visit. Their family has been throwing pottery on the wheel since 1791 It is quality craftsmanship. The white scalloped bowl pictured is from Cagle’s. Another favorite of mine is Pebbles Pottery. She’s located in her grandmother’s old house in a neighboring town, Eagle Springs, North Carolina. Pebbles makes the most adorable apple bowls, like the two pictured to the left. I used to travel to her shop at least once a year to buy them as teacher gifts when my children were young.

I love pottery because it can take on any shape the artist chooses. Each piece is unique, even if it is part of a set. Pottery not only yields to the potter’s hand to take its shape and form, but it has to endure extreme heat when it is fired. It is the heat that brings out the beautiful colors of the clay used to shape it. The firing process is what reveals what is inside of the clay.

This morning I put on some worship music as I reached for my Bible. The DJ (that would be me) chose to play some Daniel Bashta tunes. I love many of his songs. It really depends on what I’m in the mood for as to which is my favorite at the moment. For quiet time worship, Potter’s Wheel is my all time favorite. It nearly moves me to tears every time I listen to it. I feel myself climbing in the Father’s lap and resting in Him when I listen to it.

As it played in the background, I began to read Jeremiah 18. Verses 4-6 stopped me in my tracks,

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 clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.'”

I found myself getting up and pulling out pieces of pottery I owned, searching each one of them for their unique indentations, curves, and colors. I couldn’t help but think of the young women God has given me the privilege to walk life alongside of as they leave a life of sexual exploitation and try and put together a new life. When they trust themselves fully to the Master’s hand, He takes a marred life and forms it into another life, shaping it as seems best to Him.

The same can be said of you and me. The secret is in the the yielding. That is the only job the clay has when it is placed on a potter’s wheel. It yields to the hand shaping it. If it is left to itself, it would get dry and brittle and crumble into dust. The Master knows when the clay needs to be soaked, when it needs to be sprinkled and when it is fine just the way it is.

Are you dry and brittle? Do you need a drink? In John 4:14, Jesus said,

Whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Why not climb up onto the Master’s pottery wheel and see what He can do with your life? I’ll even provide the music:

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