The Bad Clay
"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."
(Jeremiah 18:4 (NIV)
Taking a pottery class is on my retirement list of fun things to do, so when my daughter enrolled in a pottery class where she lived, I was jealous in the best way.
We were both excited, until the first evening. The clay was difficult to mold.
She added water and worked it with her hands, but by the end of class, she’d produced only one unsatisfactory piece compared to several lovely pieces each of the other students had created.
She accepted the instructor’s offer to come to the studio on Saturday to practice.
That’s when the instructor discovered the problem. “This is bad clay,” he said and gave her a new bag.
When she placed a ball on the wheel and began spinning, the clay was pliable and obedient.
She texted me a picture of her first successful piece—a ceramic bowl.
Although I wasn’t in the class, I learned clay can be bad.
I thought clay was clay, and if a project didn’t turn out, the potter’s skill was to blame.
My daughter’s instructor tossed aside that rebellious lump that failed her.
I’m so thankful the Master doesn’t give up on bad clay!
Sometimes I refuse to be shaped, or I try to take on a form of my own.
But Jesus doesn’t throw me away. He patiently continues shaping me, smoothing my cracks, refusing to give up on His work in progress, molding me as He sees best.
—Karen Sargent
(Shared from "Mornings With Jesus" Devotional)
"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."
(Jeremiah 18:4 (NIV)
Taking a pottery class is on my retirement list of fun things to do, so when my daughter enrolled in a pottery class where she lived, I was jealous in the best way.
We were both excited, until the first evening. The clay was difficult to mold.
She added water and worked it with her hands, but by the end of class, she’d produced only one unsatisfactory piece compared to several lovely pieces each of the other students had created.
She accepted the instructor’s offer to come to the studio on Saturday to practice.
That’s when the instructor discovered the problem. “This is bad clay,” he said and gave her a new bag.
When she placed a ball on the wheel and began spinning, the clay was pliable and obedient.
She texted me a picture of her first successful piece—a ceramic bowl.
Although I wasn’t in the class, I learned clay can be bad.
I thought clay was clay, and if a project didn’t turn out, the potter’s skill was to blame.
My daughter’s instructor tossed aside that rebellious lump that failed her.
I’m so thankful the Master doesn’t give up on bad clay!
Sometimes I refuse to be shaped, or I try to take on a form of my own.
But Jesus doesn’t throw me away. He patiently continues shaping me, smoothing my cracks, refusing to give up on His work in progress, molding me as He sees best.
—Karen Sargent
(Shared from "Mornings With Jesus" Devotional)