The Potter Knows Best

posted April 14, 2013

One of my favorite analogies to help understand the nature of God is the one of the potter and the clay. He is the Master Creator.

I’m not a potter, nor am I super creative. However, I have made some Christmas gifts, cross stitch pictures, and quilts. With each, I enjoyed the creative process. The finished products are also a joy to me.

My pleasure in my creation gives me a small hint of the joy that God must have as He creates a complex being, made in His image, out of two tiny cells. I believe that the Master Creator receives far greater pleasure and joy from forming each of us than we do at the completion of a quilt, or even at the birth of our own child.

Because we were interested in learning from the potter analogy, Theresa Pope, from southern Kentucky agreed to teach Robert and me some basics about throwing a pot. We started with enough clay to make a mug.

We discovered that each step is much more difficult than it seems when master potter throws a pot. My biggest challenge was pulling the clay upward, to make a container out of the ball of clay.

Fortunately, if you mess up in pulling a pot, you have two options. You can collapse your creation and start over, or you can trim off the top—where it’s out of control—and end up with a smaller finished piece. Getting the clay centered on the wheel took a lot of strength and effort, so I chose to trim my clay rather than repeat that step.

Then I had to trim it again. Again. And still again . . . Nevertheless, I’m really pleased with my final product.

Only it’s not a mug. It’s a toothpick holder.

We keep it handy, on our kitchen table, and we use it more than anything else we made.

Even though it’s small, simple, and a sample of ineptness, my little toothpick holder has done more than make toothpicks handy for those who need them. It’s taught me things concerning the relationship between the Potter and the clay.

1. If you’ve made mistakes and wasted part of your life, it doesn’t mean that you are wasted and useless.
2. Plan B can still be good.
3. The Potter has a plan and a purpose for you.
4. Small doesn’t equal insignificant—whether in size, visibility, complexity, or . . .
5. The Potter doesn’t give up on you.
6. The Potter loves and cares for you—even if you feel like you’re Plan B—or C, or G.
7. As we are shaped and molded into God’s image, we are trimmed of the things of this world, things that hinder us from fulfilling the work that He prepared for us.
8. The Master Potter doesn’t make mistakes–like I did. Anything that we would term imperfections are the result of sin that destroyed the perfect on earth.

We don’t like being trimmed, but that may be the only way for us to find the peace, joy, and fulfillment that we seek in life.

I’m grateful for a Potter who loves us and knows what is best for us.

Question: What have you learned from the potter and the clay analogy?

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