Clay
WORD PICTURE: LUMP OF CLAY
Scriptural Reference: Jeremiah 18:6
"O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the LORD. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.
1. Have someone(s) read Jeremiah 18:6
2. Show a lump of CLAY and let everyone squish or poke it.
What I Shared
For me, the Bible was completely indecipherable until someone told me to underline anything that DID make sense or jump off the page. And, she said, I could call her any time with questions. The very first thing (and only thing) that jumped off the page was Matthew 6:33 which says, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well..” Really??? Well, I thought, maybe that’s what I’ve been doing wrong.
I had been in Al-Anon long enough to know about Step Eleven, in which we seek to improve our conscious contact with God, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry it out. I started making Step Eleven my morning prayer, basically moving from doing things my way to at least considering what the Lord had in mind. Well I found out that He was definitely going to work on me. At first, it felt -- more like being a big blob of wet clay, all set to be a vase, but then suddenly slammed me down on the potter’s wheel so The Potter could make me into something else. It was as though He were starting all over again.
All during my professional career, I had been working to help nonprofits unbury their raisons d’etre -- mission statements to summarize (in 25 words or less) what you do, for whom, and do what end. After all this upheaval in my own life, I decided to write a mission statement of my own (which I cannot locate) but I sort of remember. It was at the time the U.S. was in Bosnia, and people were raising money to send relief over there. I was busy feeling guilty about not serving on the front lines. In my morning walks, God had revealed that He had made me an ALTO and that meant enriching the song. It meant I wasn’t made to be the lead soprano, and that no one would especially hear the part I was carrying, but it was needed to enrich the song.
Finding my part -- that’s what this reading was about. That He formed me to sing is all I know -- to sing His song. To do that, I’ve had to become like this (LUMP OF CLAY) -- putty in His hands, and just let Him do it.
Conversation Starters
Ask for sharing on where YOU are with His purpose and plan for YOUR life.
All Scripture references from the New International Version of the Bible (NIV).
Copyright by Whitney McKendree Moore, May 2002