Nice Throw

Have you ever "thrown" a pot? No I'm not talking about the day you got angry and threw something in the kitchen. I'm referring to that amazing skill of taking soft clay and throwing it onto a potter's wheel.

If you watch a skilled potter they make it look easy. The clay is thrown and then begins the shaping. I had to throw a pot in order to pass the art class I took in college. Let me tell you if you do not get the clay "exactly" in the center you are "lost."

I remember thinking when I felt each throw as being off center as it started to "wobble" in my moist hands that I could re-center the spinning clay by applying ever gentle pressure on one side or the other. It never worked. I had to start over again each time.

After what seemed like hundreds of throws and many days of exasperation one day I felt a strange sensation....balance...I quickly pulled up the clay in my hands, put my thumb into the center to form...well....to form anything. It ended up being the heaviest candle holder ever made but it was made.

I'll never forget the class and I am constantly reminded of how "off center" I can get. I keep trying to throw things toward my "wheel" usually in a quick fashion and then I wonder, "what's wrong?" Old Jeremiah, before he was a bullfrog, found this out one day when he was frustrated with life, God, and about everything else. God sent him down to the potter's shed and simply said, "Shut up Jeremiah and watch the potter."

I know why. Whatever is going on with you right now...stop...and feel the balance or the lack of it...And maybe pray this prayer which is a song we'll do in church this Sunday:
Change my heart O God, make it ever new
Change my heart O God, make it be like you
You are the potter, I am the clay
Mold me and make me, that is what I pray
jody jseymour@davidsonumc.org