Day 6 of Embracing Your Creative Gifts: God is the Master Craftsman

 

And now, O Lord, thou art our father, and we are clay: and thou art our maker, and we all are the works of thy hands. – Isaiah 64:8

As an art major, I was required to take a pottery class. I know what you are thinking – that’s an easy “A” if there ever was one. Well, in my case, that was not how it turned out. It was actually one of the hardest classes I ever took. Try as I might, I could not get that clay to do what I wanted. Twenty-five years later, I still have a bowl I made in that class – a lopsided, poorly glazed specimen of a blue bowl. I refer to it as my “humility bowl.”

Thankfully, God is the master craftsman. He not only fashions us in our mother’s wombs, but continues to shape us and work on us throughout our lives. We are all works in progress. Only God knows what our finished product should look like.

Do we trust in the work of the ultimate potter? Do we believe that God can use all the raw material of our lives such as our personality traits, our gifts and talents, our joys and sorrows to create a work of unique beauty? Are we willing to surrender to God’s plans for us or do we fight every step of the way, believing that we know better what is best for our lives?

It can be hard to trust God, especially as we go through the dark valleys of life. It can be hard to surrender our gifts to God and say, “Use me as you will.” It certainly does not always feel like God has our best interests at heart. That is where faith comes in. We believe that God can see what we cannot. He can see us as the finished products we are made to be. We are the clay safe in our Creator’s hands.

Prayer

Master Craftsman, help me to trust in you. Help me to remember that you can see the full picture, while I see only a small fragment. I know you want only what is good for me. Help me to surrender my will in order to do your will.

Action

Work with some clay (children’s modeling dough is perfectly fine). If you have none available, a simple salt dough recipe can be made by mixing 1 cup of salt, 2 cups flour, and ¾ cup water. Feel the clay in your fingers. Have the pleasure of kneading it. Make something with it. Think about the loving care with which God fashioned you. 

This is an excerpt from The Work of Our Hands. (Amazon affiliate link)