Staying on the Wheel

“Yet You, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand.” Isaiah 64:8

When I first sat down at the pottery wheel, I imagined myself creating beautiful bowls and mugs.

What I didn’t expect was how much time I would spend struggling to center the clay.

The clay wobbled. It leaned. Sometimes it collapsed altogether.

More than once I found myself thinking, Why is this so hard?

Then it occurred to me how much I am like that lump of clay.

I often come to God with my own ideas, plans, worries, and timelines. I want Him to shape me into something beautiful, but I don’t always want the process that comes first.

Before the clay can become a bowl, it must be centered.

Before a vessel can be shaped, it must surrender to the hands of the potter.

The same is true in our spiritual lives.

Many of us want God to use us, bless us, and grow us. Yet sometimes we resist the very things that bring us closer to Him. We pull away during seasons of waiting. We grow impatient during seasons of stretching. We question Him during seasons of uncertainty.

But the Potter never gives up on the clay.

He patiently applies pressure where it is needed. He steadies what is wobbling. He works with loving hands to bring the clay into the center.

Perhaps the goal isn’t to become a perfect vessel overnight.

Perhaps the goal is simply to stay on the wheel.

To keep showing up.

To keep trusting.

To keep yielding to the hands of the One who knows exactly what He is creating.

The Potter sees the finished vessel long before the clay does.

And what feels like pressure today may be preparation for something beautiful tomorrow.

                              Christine