Potter & Clay

Last week I and another lady from church took some of our teen girls to this arts & crafts place in town to paint pottery, we had a blast! The only time I'd done it before was when a friend was getting married and she'd invited me to come along with her wedding party to paint a piece of pottery. So I'd seen this episode of Jon & Kate (see a previous post if you want to read about that show) and Kate had taken the girls pottery painting and it had brought up the memories of doing that and I thought it a perfect activity for teen girls.
So we planned it and like I said, had a great time! I brought a devotion, as we usually do at a girls activity. Me and this other lady take turns. Anyway, I couldn't help but take the advantage of sharing about the potter & the clay. And I can't help but take a few minutes to share a few thought on it here... I have always loved the story/analogy.
It's so... perfect. God is the potter. We are the clay. God made us out of lifeless clay. Like pottery He wants us to be useful and beautiful. But like pottery we have to go through some processes and they are not always easy. In the pottery process they have to beat down the pieces to get the air pockets out of them. There are times when we feel beaten down, don't we? Ok... maybe it's just me then.
In pottery they are constantly moving and molding the clay to form it into the design that they want it to be. In our lives, God is constantly molding us into the design He has planned for us to be. And it hurts to be molded and stretched and shaped, but it's all for His glory, for His purpose. Romans 8:28 "For we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."
In pottery after you've painted your piece, typically it has to be put through the kiln (the fire). This has to be done so that the piece can be usable and is beautiful, it gives it a beautiful shine. Well for you and I, God has told us in I Peter 4:12 "Think it not strange the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you." God knows we need to go through the fire in order to come out beautiful and usable. He is molding us to be like Him. He wants us to be both usable and beautiful.
After coming out of the fire the pottery is never the same. After a trial, we are never the same. From the trials of life we are changing, we are growing, we are learning, we are experiencing. God wants us to be doing all of those things.
I asked the girls one last question, and I ask it of myself... who is molding you? Who are you allowing to shape you? I pray that it is God. Because He alone has the perfect plan and design for your life. He is the one who created you and I out of that clay in the first place.