A Potter’s Pursuit

The description of God, "Divine Intender," caught my ear (as I shared in last week's post, What's That You Said?) because I wrestle to realize God pursuit of me. When I say realize, it's not the head knowledge that is challenging, but the believing and embracing in my living.

A couple weeks ago I happened to start "The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life" by Hannah Whitall Smith. To be honest, I only finished a few chapters before busy little nieces and an already-over-ambitious stack of books sidetracked me. But it's a little gem from the introduction I want to re-gift because of how it moved truth from my head to my heart. (This classic is public domain so a free PDF, or if you prefer, Librivox has an audio version).

Divine Potter is the title Hannah Smith uses of God as she describes His design in shaping Christians every day. This simple image, used many times in the Bible, shows God's love and initiation in relationship did not stop with announcing His salvation plan to Adam and Eve, nor did it stop with executing his salvation plan with Jesus Christ's death and resurrection. Rather, in continues each and every day for those who submit their life to the Potter, as a piece of malleable clay to be thrown, squeezed, spun, pulled, until shaped just right.

Have you ever been to a pottery café? I happen to love them. Mix coffee shop with creative expression and intersperse snippets of quiet conversation with friends. For me, this equation equals relaxation. In the fall I discovered the mystery of stoneware at Fired Creations in Sydney, Nova Scotia. Different from the regular ceramics, on stoneware the glazes look completely different before and after firing, with no guarantee of how the finished product will turn out. On my first mug, a flat volcano orange became a brilliant sapphire blue in the heat of a kiln.

The website for the stoneware glazes shows some attractive combinations of swirled colours and metallic crystal bursts. Loving this look and the adventure of trying something new, I gave "SW-121 Smoke over SW-155 Winter Wood" a whirl on my second stoneware mug. Of course, when I had the mug glazed and ready for firing, it did not look very attractive, just a dull grey.

A week later I was excited to remove the tissue and pull the fired mug out of the bag. But instead of the promised effect, my mug was still dull, mottled yes, but still matte instead of glossy. I wanted to give it away so I would not be reminded of the failed attempt. But on closer examination, I saw that some patches had given way to the desired glassy sea colours. Perhaps the transformation was in progress and needed a little more time in the kiln.

Hannah Smith's words reminded me of the value of pottery even before it is finished: "The lump of clay, from the moment it comes under the transforming hand of the potter, is, during each day and each hour of the process, just what the potter wants it to be at that hour or on that day, and therefore pleases him. But it is very far from being matured into the vessel he intends in the future to make it."

I decided to keep my mug. After all, God does not discard me because I am not finished yet.

Hannah Smith continued, "All that we claim then in this life of sanctification is, that by a step of faith we put ourselves into the hands of the Lord, for Him to work in us all the good pleasure of His will; and that by a continuous exercise of faith we keep ourselves there. This is our part in the matter. And when we do it, and while we do it, we are, in the Scripture sense, truly pleasing to God, although it may require years of training and discipline to mature us into a vessel that shall be in all respects to His honor, and fitted to every good work."

The best part about the Divine Potter's work is there is no guessing how the finished product will turn out. God has a design in mind and will see it through to completion. What a contrast if my dull-grey stoneware mug had turned out as the website promised, shown in the photo below. Even greater will be the contrast in my life and your life, if we are willing to submit to the Divine Potter's initiation to squeeze, pull, and shape our lumps of clay into something beautiful and useful. His daily pursuit of us is not just for our own good; the effect will be for His glory.

But now, 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

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. - Philippians 1:6

PS - For more lessons learned from an imperfect mug, check out Anne's post, A New Mug.

PPS - For those of you who enjoy puns, you could say when the Divine Potter is done with us, our mug shots will be heavenly.