Shaped by the Potter

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched my son hold the side of the clay bowl between his fingers and lightly pinch it. He rubbed with his thumb while pushing gently from the other side to ensure it didn’t crack too much. When tiny cracks inevitably formed along the top edge of the bowl, he squeezed out a sponge and rubbed it along the top.

It took slow, methodical work—part scientific as he learned to understand the clay and how to work with it, and part artistic as he molded the clay to match the image he held in his mind.

Pinch, rub, wipe, repeat.

My son spent nearly two hours on his pinch pot that day, surprising me with his persistence. He gently shaped, pinched, and smoothed away cracks, focusing on what the pot could be without getting upset the many times it didn’t quite do what he expected.

Apparently, pottery takes a ridiculous amount of patience.

This experience with him has given me a fresh perspective on Isaiah 64:8: “We are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand” (ESV).

If God is our potter, he requires a ridiculous amount of patience to form us into vessels that give him glory. He gently shapes, pinches, and smooths away our cracks, focusing on what we will be rather than becoming impatient with what we are right now.

The Patience of Jesus

Colossians 1:15 tells us that Jesus “is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation” (ESV). This means we can learn more about what our invisible God is like by looking at the visible Jesus, who put on a body and lived on earth just like you and me.

Matthew 20 records an awkward conversation between Jesus and two of his disciples. In it, James and John show up with their mom, who, in a typical mom move, asks Jesus for a favor on behalf of her sons: “Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom” (v. 21 ESV). I can almost imagine Jesus putting his face in his palm and briefly clothing his eyes, because this was definitely not the first time his followers had totally misunderstood his mission.

Have you ever tried to get your message across to someone who just didn’t get it? Maybe you are a hair stylist trying to explain to a customer how to treat her hair, and each time she returns with veritable rats’ nest’ again. Or maybe you’ve tried to teach teenagers to bake, and no matter how many times you tell them to weigh their ingredients, they inaccurately scoop and dump instead. Or maybe you have toddlers who daily misunderstand your mission to have a clean-ish house and make it their mission to dump as many bins as possible.

Being misunderstood can be incredibly frustrating. And yet, Jesus stood in front of his dearest followers and their mom and explained his mission to them yet again. Of course, when the rest of the disciples heard this, they were spitting mad, and he had to explain the whole thing all over again, in a new way.

Jesus, as the image of the invisible God, knew there was a plan for him and for his disciples. He could see the metaphorical but glorious clay vessels God was crafting from the lives of his disciples. Instead of lambasting them or walking away to try to find new, brighter followers, he spent time day in and day out, teaching and re-teaching, sharing and re-sharing, teaching them to view and review his mercy and grace.

God’s Patience with Me

Unfortunately, I am not the image of the invisible God, and don’t have the power to remain patient every time I’m frustrated with an impertinent question or when someone interrupts my train of thought. I quickly get impatient when the car ahead of me drives under speed limit or the checkout clerk stops to talk about politics with each person ahead of me in line.

I’m grateful on a daily basis that God forgives me but loves me too much to leave me in my impatient place. Like my son pinching, rubbing, and wiping his little clay pot, God is pinching out the parts of me that habitually hurt others, rubbing away my quick impatience, and wiping clean the cracks that just keep popping up.

I’m so glad he patiently takes the time required to shape me into who he wants me to be. You can rest assured that he’s working on you as well.

Patience isn’t his only goal. He’s also shaping us to be more loving, joy-filled, peaceful, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and filled with self-control.

To do so, we just need to be willing to let God work in us as we connect with him in big and little ways each day. For as Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5 ESV).

Apart from him, we are merely broken shards of clay, trying to live life without hurting ourselves and others.

I pray that no matter what your life looks like today, you would turn to your loving potter and invite him to shape you into the glorious vessel he has in mind.

Christie Thomas is a homeschool mom of 3 boys. God had to shape a lot of patience and faithfulness in her as she wrote her newest book, Fruit Full: 100 Family Experiences for Growing in the Fruit of the Spirit over many late nights when everyone else was in their cozy beds. Christie helps Christian moms confidently disciple their kids without having to know it all or do it all at littleshootsdeeproots.com.