The Potter's Hand

Dave arranged for a very special surprise for Allison Brooke this Christmas. He gave her a gift to support her creativity and her love for art. I would have never thought of it and knowing that he did think of it was such a blessing. Allison was born with this love for creativity. She is artistic and talented in ways that he and I are not. When she found out what his gift to her was she had such a twinkle in her eye. Yesterday I was able to accompany her to her very first pottery class.

As I watched the instructor work with Allie and begin explaining the process of taking the clay into your hands and onto the potters wheel I could feel myself listening to more than just her voice. I can't really explain what I felt, but I have been running it over and over again in my mind. I watched as she took the pile of clay into her hands. She worked it over and over again before placing it on the wheel. Working all of the hidden pockets of air out of it. What looked good to Allie and I was not what it appeared to be. The instructor cut the clay in half to reveal a large pocket hidden in the middle. So she continued to work it for a while longer. Next she took the pile and placed it in the middle of the potter's wheel. Up to this point the clay was not very impressive. Just a wet, gray, dirty pile of mud and it didn't look like much to me. I thought to myself that it would take all day to make that look like anything of value, but I was wrong. In just a few minutes (literally in minutes) it was something. Something really amazing. Not just the item, but the fact that she could make it appear out of what looked like nothing. Allie and I were very, very impressed and I was getting excited knowing that some day Allison would be making me something very similar. Then she did something I never expected her to do. She crushed it. Just like that. In seconds it was gone. It returned to a pile of nasty, wet, mud. I couldn't believe it. Allie couldn't either. I later asked Allie if she would have done that and she said, "No way, but maybe she saw something we didn't see."

"Like what", I asked her.

She shrugged her shoulders and said, "Maybe to her it wasn't what it was meant to be. She could probably tell that something was wrong with it even though we couldn't and she knew she could make it ever better."

I have thought so much about that statement. He really is the Potter and our lives, my life, is just like that pile of clay. Nothing special until He touches it. Even when I look at myself and think, "Hey, I must be alright. I'm doing a pretty good job." He can see the inside. He sees the hidden pockets that I myself don't even know are there. There are days in my life when it feels like He takes His hands and mushes me right back into that pile of mud. Why? Why would He do that? I think its a lot like Allie said. The Father, the Potter, knows that He can make it even better.

He is molding me into the person He wants me to be. Just like Allie did with her pile of clay yesterday. She pushed it and pulled it. She rolled it and shaped it. She formed it into something special, and when she was done she turned it over and put something incredibly special on the bottom of it. She put her signature. The potter's signature. So that all would know that piece belonged to her. It was her creation. Unique and beautiful and very, very special. He too is working on His creation. His signature is on me. I am His, and if I am His then He is going to make sure that I am what He created me to be.

This journey our family is taking is changing us. He is using Ashley's life and her experiences to work on all 5 of us. Even on those days when we feel as though we have been smashed into that pile of clay. We are going to come out of the fire stronger, and when we do He will be able to turn us over and see that the Potter's signature is there placed on our lives by His own hand.

I'm going to enjoy this gift Dave gave to Allison.