The Potter & His Clay

What sorrow awaits those who argue with their Creator.
Does a clay pot argue with its maker?
Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it, saying, 'Stop, you're doing it wrong!'
Does the pot exclaim, 'How clumsy can you be?'
~ Isaiah 45 : 9

A beautiful pot / vase or an elegant tea cup, all these come from a clay which go through tough and long processes.

What are those processes?
* The potter picked up a lump of clay from a giant pile of clay from the floor. By this time, he would already has an end design in mind.
Just like how God picked us up, chose us and prepare us. Even before we were born, He already had a design for our lives.

* The clay is then being patted and rolled. The potter will start pouring some water to soften the clay.
At first, we must receive the Word of God in our lives. It's about rebuke and learning. Don't harden your heart, but soften it just like the clay.

* The potter would put the clay on the center of spinning wheel, and keep it spinning while shaping it, taking out any rubble.
The clay on the centre represent our lives to be centered with Christ, so that God can start to shape our lives. While doing so, He will also picked out any mistakes or bad stuffs in our lives.

* The potter will then put the  shaped-clay into the oven and burnt it.
This is the process of sanctification. As our old-selves died with Christ, we are being purified. And believe me, this process is not as easy as it seems.

* After the process, the shaped-clay is then put on the shelf waiting for it to cool down. Then the potter would continue to brush and paint it.
God always wanted to test our patience. Could you wait? In the midst of waiting, remember that God would always put colors in your life. You would never be forgotten by Him.

* Then the potter would once again put the shaped-clay back into the oven. But this time, twice as hot as the first one.
God will only put us into the world when we are ready. The world is like a fiery furnace, keep on burning us, but make us stronger.

* The potter would take out the vase out from the oven and put it on shelf, for it to cool down. Then he will look at the vase and say, "You're beautiful."
At the end of the day, surely we would want God to say "well done".

Note from The Potter:
I want you to remember. I know it hurts to be rolled and patted, but if I had left you alone, you'd dried up. I know it made you dizzy to spin around on the wheel, but if I had stopped, you would have crumbled. I knew it hurt and was hot and disagreeable in the oven, but if I hadn't put you there, you would have cracked.
I know the fumes were bad when I brushed and painted all over you, but if I hadn't done that, you never would have hardened; you would not have any color in your life. And if I hadn't put you back in that second oven, you wouldn't survive for very long, because hardness would not have held. Now you are a finished product. You are what I had in mind when I first began with you.

The journey of Christianity was never easy, but once you are in, strive to the end, for the result is always good.