Thursday Lent 2

So I went to the potter’s house, and sure enough, the potter was there, working away at his wheel. Whenever the pot the potter was working on turned out badly, as sometimes happens when you are working with clay, the potter would simply start over and use the same clay to make another pot. Then God’s Message came to me: “Can’t I do just as this potter does, people of Israel?” God’s Decree! “Watch this potter. In the same way that this potter works his clay, I work on you…”

Jeremiah 18:3-6 MSG

How many times have I been reshaped, reformed, and even remade into something new? Many, many times!!!

At first, the reshaping hurt. It hurt my ego, my pride, and my feelings. But what it taught me was humility,  trust, and dependence. 

I longed to grow spiritually,  but with spiritual growth came a demand to mature emotionally. Without the emotionally mature component, I was constantly being thrown back onto the potter’s wheel again and again. This was not fun, nor was it life-giving. Still, I knew there was something more.

I quit focusing on the outside, what others could see, and I began to turn inward. I found that God longed to meet me in the innermost part of my being. Little did I know this was also the place I would find myself. The place I would recover my life.  The place where everything would begin to change and grow.  My perspective. My faith. My relationships. My hopes. My dreams. It was the place where peace would reside. The place I would find joy. The place in which compassion and grace would flow out of. The place of healing.

I still get tossed on the potters wheel from time to time, but it isn’t a place of shame. It is a place of longing and desire. For I know if God places me there, it is for my good.