The Potter’s wheel sits quietly. It feels a great sense of anticipation as it sees the Potter carefully shape a lump of clay in her hands. Soon it will feel the clay upon it’s hard, smooth surface. Soon it will feel the current flow through it’s motor. Soon it will be spinning the clay so that the Potter can create an object that will delight the eyes and perhaps serve some useful function. The wheel knows that it has an important job.
The clay feels itself being shaped and formed in the Potter’s hands. It knows that it has been selected for something special. It knows that soon it will be spinning on the wheel. It knows that it will be lifted and smoothed and shaped by they Potter’s hands. The clay takes delight in its transformation. Spinning, rising, moving, changing, it feels itself become something new. The clay knows that it has an important role.
The glaze sees the clay transformed by the Potter. A shapeless lump becomes ever more round. A flattened sphere is patiently hollowed out. A rough, fat cup is smoothed and formed into a bowl. The bowl is refined r until it is a beautiful balance of form and function. Now the potter applies the glaze with steady hand and clear vision. The bowl will be colourful and bright thanks to the glaze. The bowl will be able to hold water without leaking thanks to the glaze. The glaze knows that it has an important duty
The kiln is getting hotter and hotter. As its thermometer creeps up towards the proper temperature it feels ever more ready for the object that will be placed within it. The kiln will set the clay into its permanent form. Patiently, the kiln will hold its temperature for as long as the Potter demands. All too soon the kiln will be allowed to cool down until the newly formed pottery can be safely removed. All too soon its job will be done. But the kiln knows that it is vital to the work of the Potter.
With wheel, clay and kiln the Potter practices her art. Her deft hands remove just enough clay from the pile. Her skilled fingers toss it on the wheel and shape it according to her desire. Her trained eyes help her apply just the right amount of glaze, in just the right design. Master of the clay, wheel, glaze and kiln, she creates a large, simple bowl. Clay, wheel, glaze and kiln are satisfied. They have done their jobs.
The bowl sits proudly on the table. It remembers that it was once formless and drab. It remembers how the wheel helped to shape it. It remembers how the glaze helped to make it useful and beautiful. It remembers how the kiln set and stabilized it. Above all, it remembers the Potter. It was the Potter that first imagined the bowl. It was the Potter that first chose the clay. It was the Potter that transformed the clay on the wheel. It was the Potter that glazed the newly formed bowl. It was the Potter that set the bowl in the kiln and controlled the how hot it would get and how long it would stay hot.
We are told in Scripture that we are wonderfully and beautifully made. Like clay in the potter’s hands, we are formed, glazed and fired by God. The bowl remembers its creator. Do we?
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