Near the end of August, the cold of the last winter is a distant memory. The busyness of the season has left us stressed and without time to think. Everything seems to have crowded out this blog. However, as we look ahead to the school year, we are organizing ourselves back into a routine.

When I reflect on the impact that the seasons have on our moods and activity levels, I can’t help but think how temperatures play a transformational role in pottery too. 

As a kiln is firing up and cooling down, the changes in temperature make some profound changes in the clay. The clay goes from this soft, totally fragile substance to one which is rock-hard, impervious to water, wind, and time.

Of course, one’s change in humor is cyclical, while the clay is permanently altered but sunshine and heat is the common element. There are many aspects to temperatures in pottery. These range from type of kilns to end results on glazes. Perhaps in a future blog post we will explore this more. Today, I want to just dwell on the amazing transformation of the clay as it is under fire.

Since God is the Master Potter and we are “His” pieces of clay, I am reminded of how he is shaping us in the seasons of our lives. We are so often weighed down by our own selfish desires, petty ambitions, or attractions which are temporal instead of eternal.  God uses adversity, rejection and failure to free us from the crust, grime and dirt of this world and change us more into the likeness of Jesus.

 As I Peter 1:6-7 reminds us “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

If you are stressed for any reason, I hope you may you find strength and encouragement in Him and His word.

As I sit in the sun, in this cold winter day, meditating in my quiet time, I am admiring an Amaryllis that is in full bloom.

This magnificent plant is in a bowl that I was making with the intention of serving food. However, while glazing the bowl, I accidentally made a hole in it. I did not want to simply throw away something that gave me joy in making it. Now that bowl will have a different purpose. Sometimes, we have plans, but things change.

When a flower is blossoming like it is right now, no one notices the pot, holding mud and water. I want my life to be like that pot and display the beauty of Jesus Christ

Life has a purpose. It might not always be what you expect it will be, but God works in ways that we do not understand. My prayer is that my heart will hold His word and strengthen my soul. In the right time, I will show the beauty of Christ and refresh others. Whatever it will be, I just want to be a chunk of clay in the Potter’s hands.

2 Corinthians 3:18 reminds us “So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image”