The persistent potter
There are places in the world where the veil is thin between earth and heaven, places that have been prayed in for centuries like Iona. There are people who carry a thin place with them, because they spend so much time with Jesus. My friend Mary is one of them. Here is a taster of the treasure she carries:
Mary has been through much loss and so her words are not glib. There is pure gold in this call to trust - not just when all is well but with the complete trust that my grandson has when his dad throws him up in the air. As I get older, I find this trust journey doesn’t end - there is always more to trust God with but it is precisely when we reach the end of ourselves that God works a deep trust in our lives. The Potter reworks the clay, using even the tragic fallenness of our world, not to hurt us because he never wants that (Lamentations 3:33) but in order to free us to be what he always intended us to be, utterly secure children who totally trust their Father’s love.
The Persistent Potter
“We are the clay - You are the potter”
says the prophet,
sounding as if he actually wants to be moulded
whereas this lump of clay that is me tends to resist the Potter’s hand,
“What is it that you want of me?” I ask.
Again and again, the answer resounds
“Trust me”, says my Maker,
“I will make you more of you than you can imagine
You - yes you - will hold the treasure of my glory
As you learn to trust
That I am working for your good.
Trust me when it looks as if your hopes are smashed
When the clay that looked so promising is hurled against the wheel
Trust my love remains despite your pain
The only things I break are hard hearts and demonic powers
What I shatter is lies
Always I am working for your good”.
The Potter is persistent
Working the clay
When it is dry and hard and cracked
The Potter pours on the water of the Spirit
Until it softens and begins to give
Responding to the skill of the artist’s hands
Who is always working for our good.
———
O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.
(Isaiah 64:8)
