What Type of Clay Will We Be?

We had a Restoration Week in Glyndley Manor and I was helping with a few of the creativity workshops during the course. One of the workshops was playing with clay. I am no clay expert, and know very little of how it works other than you buy it, you cut it for people to use, and if there is left over, you bag it with clean foil and store it away.

We had quite a lot of clay left over from last time, and it had been cut into blocks and stored in the corner. As I started to unwrap the clay, I noticed that some pieces were incredibly hard, because air had got into the plastic wrapping. I had two new bags of clay I could have used, but decided to try and re-use the old clay.

I sprayed it with water and tried to knead and soften it. I soon realised this was going to take a lot longer than I had expected. No matter how much water I sprayed and how hard I pressed with my hands, the clay was so hard that it took me a long time to soften the first four blocks. The fifth block was rock hard and I had to grab a wooden tool to hit it with. It got very messy. My hands were dirty. I had clay inside my nails. There were stains on my shirt. But eventually the clay started to soften up.

Then I felt the Holy Spirit reminded me of Jeremiah Chapter 18:2-6, which says, ‘“Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will let you hear my words.” So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel. And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do. Then the word of the Lord came to me: “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.”’

 Also, I was reminded of Isaiah 64:8, which says, “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.” We might be clay, but we are not all as soft as new clay. Things in life cause us to harden our hearts and create defence mechanisms. If we do not let the Holy Spirit wrap us up well in His love, as the clay should have been wrapped up in plastic, it will be hard to soften us again. But God is able to do it.

God gets His hands dirty and softens us in His hands. He does not give up on us. My question to you is: What type of clay do you want to be?  Do you want to be hard clay that is almost impossible to work with, or do you want to be soft, so you can be moulded into whatever the Creator wants to make with you?