Clay

The study in Indeed this past week was most interesting and challenging. In reference to the potter and the clay (Jeremiah 18) I had my mind expanded thinking about my clay-like relationship with the Lord. Here are a few thoughts that keep fleeting through my mind about that relationship:

"We are reluctant to relax in the hands of the Potter for one main reason: We forget why we exist...Clay really exists for the Potter alone...The trials of your life are like the tools of a potter. They gouge you for the sake of beauty." Thinking about repentance in terms of clay; "Clay that has lost it's moisture, that is hardening and no longer pliable, is unrepentant clay. If that thickening process isn't too far along, the Potter can add some water and soften it up...The Potter's grand design depends upon the malleability of His clay...He always has a good plan for clay that bends." "The Potter is focused on outcomes...focused on how His people finish. Not where we started, but where we end."

The study brought to mind many carvings, moldings, reshaping and trials that did not feel good at the time, but it is amazing when I look back, a pattern for His good does take shape. I am challenged to remain pliable at this age when it is easy to feel like I have "learned it all" and want to be less pliable in His hands as well as with situations around me. It was a most revealing and challenging study for me!

Next Sunday Daughter Sue has invited me to join her in Tampa for a cruise in the Western Caribbean. We both are feeling that may be helpful to improve the after-effects from my earlier nasal infection. The excessive cold here seems to aggravate it quite a bit. I will be driving to Tampa on Saturday and will appreciate your prayers for wisdom and safety during the trips. I am certainly looking forward to spending those days with Sue!

I trust that your weather has improved as has ours and that you have a blessed week.

Love to all,

Chuck