Sometimes We Just have to Admit that We Are Crackpots

“Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places when other people see nothing…Camille Pissarro.”

Isn’t it amazing that, by “coincidence”, a book appears right when we need its message?  I am referring to a book by Jill Austin titled “Master Potter”. It was sitting on my shelf for a long time waiting to be reread. I was pondering our discussion for this week. I was trying to sort out how I could explain what was going on in my life. It wasn’t even totally clear to me. This book helped to bring clarity.

It’s an allegorical book about a broken clay vessel named Forsaken, who is discarded in the Potter’s Field. The Master Potter finds her there. She goes from being Forsaken to being called Beloved, as she trusts her life to Jesus. However, it doesn’t end there…no no no… by any means. This is true for us too.

She goes through a process, as a piece of pottery in progress. Our lives, like hers, are clay in the Master’s hands

In pottery, there are stages of development of a piece of pottery. Our lives, as a Christian,  mirror this.

The first stage is the wet stage. This is when the clay is thrown on the wheel.  It looks like a blob to onlookers but the potter can picture what he is creating.

 There is a stage called wedging where the clay is kind of “beaten” to take away air bubbles, so that when it bakes…it will not crack.  There was one heading in the book that said “Ouch Lord, that hurts!” I am sure that was said in this stage.

Then, there is a stage called leather hard stage.  It is when the clay becomes more hardened, yet still pliable and can be impressed with markings and additions to make it more beautiful.

Once the piece is formed…it goes into a VERY hot oven to be fired. There it becomes bisque. It comes out hardened, but rough looking.

Once that is cooled, it is glazed. The recipe for glazing is a creation of the Potter and is sometimes a secret formula. After the glazing step, it then again goes back into the fire for completion.

In the beginning of my walk with the Lord, when I read the scripture about us being the clay and the Lord being the Potter, I had a simplistic view of the process. In my mind, I only held the picture of me being on a wheel, as a lump and that the Master was “forming me” It seemed so lovely and beautiful, really.  Was it the full picture? Au contraire. It was only “part of the truth” but not” the rest of the story”, as Paul Harvey, the radio host used to say.

In our walk with the Lord, there is our destiny that He envisions we will attain. It is crystal clear to Him, right from the beginning. Thank God, He sees the finished product. You know why? In the process we may have questions or should I say we WILL have questions  of why this life issue is so painful, why did this or that happen and why am I going through this?..At those times, we may conclude that the Lord has abandoned us, forgetting that, all along, we are being formed into His image. Isaiah 29:16 talks about this “Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, “He did not make me?” Can a pot say to the Potter, “He knows nothing?”

So where I… the Pot…the Vessel… who He tenderly calls His Beloved, find myself, is in the fire of refinement. He’s burning away all the impurities and “junk” in me that is not of Him. The funny part of telling you this is, I already thought I had gone through this process…several times.  Didn’t I Lord? I actually have. Perhaps what I didn’t realize is that He loves me so much, He cannot and will not leave me weak and vulnerable to destruction.  I am not here because He wants to hurt me or destroy me. Nothing could be further from the truth. What He is after is a vessel that can be strong enough to carry His glory.  He needs a vessel that will not crack under the pressures of this world or succumb to the onslaught of our enemy…His enemy. He desires a vessel that will be Beautiful to behold…not because of any innate beauty I was born with, but because of how beautiful I have become, intimately knowing Him.

Our world needs to behold His glory. I don’t know about you but it has always amazed me, is that He has chosen earthen vessels (you and I) to shine and show forth His light to the world.

What humility and love He has, , not to hoard His love and glory. He trusts us and He has to believe that we will do it.

I still stand amazed!  How about you?

Linda Maynard

Busy, Burdened....Beautiful

A time in the desert...Well, I am sure glad it didnt last 40 years, however 1 day in the desert seems like 40 years...Wilderness, desert, its all the same..Its dry, its desolate, lonely etc..You know what I mean...My desert experiences have been few but have impacted me in such a way that I'm not in a hurry to go back there....I am dry and thirsty Lord send your rain, send your rain...Lord I need your touch again, send your rain, send your rain...Let it rain, Let it fall from heaven , send your rain to revive my soul, I need your rain, I need your streams of refreshing, so i will thirst no more..Those are lyrics to a song that has stuck with me for 10 years..You know those songs that you never forget, or have impacted your life/walk in a way that you don't understand..That is the one that did it for me...My desert experience that remains fresh in my mind is the time I returned to the world...After serving the Lord for 6 years and I mean "serving"..I was busy, busy. busy..Youth, dance, children's ministry any thing that needed to be done I did it..I was going constantly and enjoyed every second of it..You know the desert thing kind of just crept up on me..One day I was going, going ,going the next day ...NOTHING...A lot in my life had transpired during this time, lots of changes..It all happened when a separation occurred between myself and my ministries and my church family...Its really not important these days how it happened as much as the importance of "why" it happened...This experience (desert) was the loneliest, darkest place I had ever been..Sometimes it was cold and desolate and others the temperature got so hot I was gasping for air...My emotions got the best of me in this place, I was sad, lonely, afraid, desperate etc....In this desert I spent some time in a fiery furnace, a lions den, in a pit, a prison I had faced many giants, a serpent had even spoken to me and tried to strangle the very breath of life out of me, I ran, I hid, then I cried out for help.....JESUS!!!!HELP ME..You know what He said that day....I've been here the whole time daughter, I was just waiting for you to ask...I was waiting for you to surrender to me , admit you couldn't do it on your own..I was waiting for you to call out my name...That day in the desert I finally had sensed a glimmer of hope..He told me to walk with Him for He had much to tell me in regards to this place I had been residing in for some time..After a long walk I told the Lord I was weary and didn't think I could continue this journey through this desert..At that moment he told me that we were on our way to the potters house, that it was just a little further along the narrow road we were on, I looked up at Him...I said I am to tired Lord this burden is to much, I cant take another step, I am dry and thirsty..At that moment He picked me up and carried me the rest of the way, I fell asleep as I counted His footprints in the sand..When I had finally came to, we were at the Potters house as he promised we would be..As I looked around I saw so many masterpieces some shiny , some cracked and some on the potters wheel..I asked Jesus my guide why are we here?? Am I going to return to the desert??..His reply was," No daughter, here is where I am going to teach you how to be fit for the masters use......."..You walked through the desert, you called on my name and now here we stand...Here is where You will sit,you will be molded and transformed into a vessel fit for "my" use...