Working With Clay

I remember an art class that I once took a while ago where I had to make sculptures and pots out of clay. For those of you who are hoping that this is one of my “tips on art” I’m sorry that it’s not, I was never really great at art and don’t have much advice (other than only draw on the paper) but working with clay reminded me of a post I wrote. I know there have been countless writings about how God works with us and again I apologize that this is one of them. One thing I remember about working with clay is that is was boring and cold, basically lifeless. I remember having to warm it with my hands so I could work with it and that it would dry out and crack often, and I would have to constantly roll and re-roll it to get it to a point where it could be used. Then I’d cut it into a few pieces that I would need, put some together, and cut extraneous bits off to give it the shape I wanted. When I was finally done I’d smooth out the imperfections and put it in the kiln. It would come out white and fragile and then I’d carefully paint it adding color and life to my creation and glaze it to make it strong and give it a shine. That is an image of how God works through us. He takes us in the beginning of our faith; out of our sin He welcomes us. And just like the clay He works through our faults to get us to the place that we are to be. He then takes His tools to our life, taking the old life out and putting the new life in. We are then taken to the “kiln” to be cleansed of our sin and then when we are cleansed He takes us and adds His spirit in our lives to give us strength. I know the imagery is somewhat over used but it still rings true. God loves us and in His loving hands we are transformed from hard lifeless clay to a new lively creation. He is never done working with us, throughout our lives He is constantly taking away and adding to our souls before we are back to His original creation. Inside every block of clay is an artist’s sculpture and inside every person’s soul is God’s original masterpiece.