Potter's Clay

June 20, 2012

 Dear Ones,

    Happy Summer!  The days are warm, the nights are warm, we are ever so grateful for air conditioning, and we are also delighted in the opportunity to spend some time outdoors. These are days and evenings for playing on swings and slides, bouncing on the trampoline and playing in the mud.   It was really supposed to be dirt for planting some flowers but well it is more like clay when it gets wet.  Slick, mushy, slimy reddish clay, is this the “dust” God formed man out of?  As both big and little hands and feet squished and squeezed the gushy substance through fingers and between toes a little flower garden began to take shape. 

    This evening as the big people slid about trying to find footing on the slimy surface all the while digging holes so that we could finish up the flower garden, the children got a little hot and overwhelmed by the project, I could not help but think of potter’s clay.  We weren’t trying to form anything out of it but it would have worked great for some sun dried bricks and I have seen many of the field homes around us coated with it for insulation.  As my little make shift trowel dug into the mush I smiled at the thought of seeds bursting forth into flowers as they push their way up through the mud, struggling toward the fresh air and sunlight.  Much like our sweet children, life is more often than not a struggle for their little bodies as they grow.  Each one has been fashioned by the Potter’s Hand.  They are each one uniquely made bearing the fingerprints of their Abba Father. (Isaiah 64:8 “But now, O Lord, You are our Father, We are the clay, and You our potter; And all of us are the work of Your hand”).  They may be muddy, a little squishy, and sometimes slippery but what joy it brings to embrace the challenge to welcome the opportunity to kick off the flip-flops, roll up the pant legs and get dirty.  Because God is growing some beautiful flowers in His garden and has called us to the muddy field to work.

Change My Heart Oh God

“Change my heart oh God
Make it ever true
Change my heart oh God
May I be like You

Change my heart oh God
Make it ever true
Change my heart oh God
May I be like You

You are the potter
I am the clay
Mold me and make me
This is what I pray

Change my heart oh God
Make it ever true
Change my heart oh God
May I be like You”

.

 With Love for each of you,

Mariah