Devotional for Father's Day, 6/15/14
Pottery comes in all shapes and sizes. Different colors and glazes ranging from subdued earth hues to bright jewel tones adorn the various vessels. The earthenware may be a useful form or just be decorative and fun. Some people really love pottery and have wonderful collections of it. Other people really couldn't care less about these clay creations. Some have even had bad experiences in the past creating memories of broken shards of clay flying across a tile floor, or worse yet, of impact with some sensitive body part!
Fathers come in all shapes and sizes too. Some are still with us, and others are departed from this life. Our relationships with them range from loving, protective and supportive to distant and cold, or abusive, or even absent as in abandonment. That is the nature of humanity, at best not perfect, at worst... you get the picture. Not much different from ourselves actually, being human as we are, we also come in all forms.
But there is one who is perfect, our Father in heaven who created us. He molded us like clay into pottery. Even though we are rough, cracked and even broken, we are the works of his loving hands and forgiven when we fail. We are each unique, with various shapes and sizes, colors and purposes. Though we are not perfect, we are made to do God's perfect will. We are created to praise and worship him and to do good works, witnessing to the whole world of his love and mercy. Though we are sinful, we are perfect in God's eyes as seen through Christ, our redeemer!
O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. Isaiah 64:8 (NIV)
Dear Father in heaven, I know that you have created me and molded me into a vessel to be filled with your Holy Spirit. When I stumble and crack, you use me to pour out your love upon others. Thank you for sending your Son, Jesus, forgiving my shortcomings and using them to your glory, in whose name I pray, Amen.
written by Jan Andersen
Song: The Potter's Hand - Darlene Zschech
He is the potter we are the clay. He molds us and then when we crack from our own shortcomings He fixes us and makes us such that we can serve Him in spite of our weaknesses and flaws. Praise God for His love of His vessels.
ReplyDeleteGod bless...
Thanks - And sometimes He DOESN'T fix our flaws (though he forgives us for them) so that we can serve Him BECAUSE of our weaknesses and flaws! Like the story of the woman who walked a pathway lined with flowers on one side every day with a stick across her back with a water jar tied to each end. She would walk to a well and fill them both, and walk back - but one was cracked and leaked water all the way back. Why didn't she fix it or replace it? Because since it was cracked, it watered the flowers alongside the pathway, keeping them alive and blooming! In the same way, sometimes because of our flaws we experience trials that we can then help others through because of our experiences.
DeleteBlessings.
Hi Jan...I had forgotten this story. It is a perfect illustration of how God uses cracked pots (not crackpots lol...though I am sure that He uses them as well) Thank you for your thought filled devotionals and faithfulness. It was a nice surprise to see your writing waiting there as a draft a couple of days early.
DeleteLove and God bless from Corinne