DIRT

PRACTICE: What gift lies uncultivated within you?

“Without a potter, clay is just dirt.” For some reason, this quote spoke to my heart and sparked a couple of questions…can clay come from any dirt? How is it that the clay gets separated from the dirt?

I grew up in a very rural area of Georgia where streaks of clay were visible in the red dirt and I do not see that where I live now. Turns out clay can be extracted from any dirt with a simple but time- consuming process. But clay is just clay until it is in the hands of a potter. Perhaps my interest in the quote was pricked because some months ago (pre-COVID-19) a family outing took place at a hands-on pottery establishment. We did not get to create an object, but we were able to select a piece of pre-shaped pottery, paint it as we liked, leave it at the shop to be fired and finished into the shiny platter, bowl or animal we had envisioned.

It is hard to imagine the platter sitting in my house now was dirt until the clay was separated from it and met a potter. When I chose the platter to paint, it was a dull white object. When I painted the platter with various shades of purple, it became a dull purple painted platter. When I picked it up after it had been in the kiln, it had become the lovely piece (in my eye) that highlights the lack of my artistic ability.

The platter with the words “living beyond what I can see” written in my cursive style, has come a long way from the dirt of a humble beginning. For the clay to reach its fullest potential, it had to be processed and handled by many hands.

Dirt teaches us a lesson about the lifecycle of our gifts and potential. They may lay hidden in the dirt of unawareness and may or may not be visible. Discovery of them can be a time-consuming process often aided by necessity. Shaping that potential/gift into what it ought to be requires me to be pliable and the hands of others. Facing situations and living through them, the paints of encouragement, advice from others received and applied all serve as the proverbial kiln that turns my potential-my gifts into something that is beautiful and of use to the world in which I live. Do not avoid the slow and time-consuming process of discovering your clay. Do not be afraid of the potter’s hand.

Isaiah 64:48

PONDER THIS THOUGHT—The most beautiful parts of me offered to others are a result of molding, painting, and firing.