The Loving Potter and His Ragamuffin Clay

I wrote this a while back and wanted to post it again because of the sermon I heard at church last week. Hope it speaks to you as the Lord spoke it to me.

I had my 17 month old granddaughter for a few days this week. We had such fun! Among the things we did was cook homemade play dough. She poured in the water and flour and helped stir it. After it cooled, we kneaded it on the table and divided it up into 4 parts to color it with food coloring. It's a good idea to wear gloves while doing this, but I didn't have any, so my hands got stained multicolored from squishing the dye in. I bore the marks of the play dough all over my hands and fingers! Once each part was completely blended with color, we began to make our shapes. She didn't know what to do with hers. She would touch it with only one finger at a time. I had to take her hands and get them into the dough and show her how to squish it and smash it flat. She loved it! Then we got the cookie cutters out and started cutting out shapes. I never could sculpt well with play dough or even clay in art class, years ago. My creations always came out looking something like 'Mr. Bill'. Alas, I am not a sculptor or potter.

While attempting a masterpiece with my granddaughter, I began to think of the Master Potter and His clay. Gradually, with care, he shapes the mass that he's created. You. Me. I have heard that an artist can see his masterpiece in a lump of clay, or stone. He just removes or chisels away anything that is not his creation. The finished piece is in there to begin with. The Sculptor simply reveals his beautiful handiwork ever-so-gently, removing any unnecessary part. The Potter continues to painstakingly shape and remove (and sometimes smash?) day after day because he loves his artwork. And he doesn't do it with one finger. His hands are enmeshed in our formless, undefined messiness. And he has our marks on his body to prove it. Our 'stains' are on his hands and his fingerprints are all over us. Each one of his masterpieces is unique. No cookie cutter shapes for this Master Artist. No reproductions or imitations. Each piece is exactly as he planned it and has a specific purpose; he just reveals it step by step. We have to go through the fire sometimes to make us stronger. It's painful, but we come out shining in the end. We are beautiful because the Master Potter made us. And he doesn't make junk.

My Dear Potter, thank you for removing the unnecessary material from your Ragamuffin art piece of me. Even though I cannot see your finished work yet, I trust that you do. I believe you are revealing to my heart a specific purpose for my life. You know I want to love you and love people. Especially broken, hurting people. I believe you have enmeshed this within my soul. It is what I long to do each day. It is my calling. Help me to do it well, for your glory. Thank you for getting into the messiness of my life and somehow creating beauty out of it. I know I have left many a stain on you, my Master Artist. But I am so grateful you have left your fingerprints on me. Help me to get into the messy lives of your other works of art. And maybe have some of your fingerprints rub off on them, so that their true beauty will be revealed as the beautiful masterpiece that you intended.

I'm in your hands, my loving Potter,
Your Ragamuffin Girl.

Scripture Reference: Jeremiah 18:6