The Potter

But now, O lord, thou art our father;

we are the clay, and thou our potter;

and we all are the work of thy hand.

Isaiah 64:8

My mother enrolled me in a Pre-K class at Logan School. It was the only school that offered the program that year. The teaching of this class was done by a married couple from a nearby town...Mr. & Mrs. Swain. At that time we had a school bus that ran from one end of our Main Street to the other that served as our city transportation. The Swains took a bus from their little town and then took our bus to the corner nearest the school. My mother walked me to the Main Street corner nearest our home to meet the bus where I would ride to the school with the Swains. I really loved Mr. & Mrs. Swain. What's more, I got to be one of the very first students in the classroom in the mornings because of being with them.

One particular morning as we arrived, Mrs. Swain let out a loud, "Oh my!" The clay we played with was kept in a big tin container with a lid on it but maybe the janitor in cleaning up the night before sat it on the heating unit (register, we called it) and the clay by morning looked like a container of hot, ugly soup. Clay back then was an ugly gray and usually got hard pretty quickly when exposed to air, but not that morning. It was a mess after being exposed to heat all night.

When we finally did have clay time, the Swains always stressed that we could make anything out of our piece of clay we wanted to. I liked to make baskets but some made snakes, guns, dolls, and even animals. We could do anything or make anything out of our ball of clay. Just handling it made us feel like we were in control even as little as we were.

On two different occasions in my life, I have watched a genuine potter at work. A good, experienced potter has a special touch. His touch extends to every part of the process, not just in molding a piece of clay into a certain object. He carefully selects the clay. There may be some lumps or stones in the clay but because the clay is just what he wants, he chooses to use it and work the flaws out of the clay as he works with it. He prepares his wheel and makes sure he has a more than an ample supply of water next to the wheel because that is needed in the shaping and molding process.

The potter kneads the clay until it is just the right consistency before placing it on the wheel. His feet stay on the pedals below the wheel table that keeps the wheel spinning at whatever speed he wants. It is at this moment, one sees the interaction between the potter and the clay. The potter bends almost lovingly over the piece of clay that is spinning on the wheel. His hands are wet and he ever so carefully shapes the piece of clay into whatever he has planned ahead of time for it to be. Artisan potters know from the beginning the plan they have for the clay. Every now and then, he feels a small lump. At that time, the potter may stop the wheel and carefully remove the lump or stone and then proceed to work the clay to his liking.

It may not take an experienced potter very long to view the final object before him that he has crafted but, is it what he had hoped to produce? Unfortunately, there are times when a piece of clay just has not worked to his liking. It hasn't yielded completely to the skilled hands of the potter. The clay doesn't yield for some reason and despite the potter's efforts to make something of it, the end result isn't acceptable. The potter will often take such a faulty product and throw it on a heap of broken pottery where other useless objects have been thrown.

Scripture compares us to clay and God to a Great Potter who takes us in hand and spends our lifetimes working with us. At first when young in our faith, we tend to be very pliable in the hands of the Potter. As life goes on, there are sometimes lumps and stones that may be found or even developed because of our sin natures that make us hard to work with. Unlike the lumps of clay I saw earthly potters working with, we as the clay in THE Potter's hands have some choices as we are on the wheel, being shaped and formed as He would have us be. However, there are times when we aren't very yielding in the hands of the Potter. We want to do our own thing, take on our own shape to be an object we want to be and not what our Father wants us to be.

We make choices everyday as to our yieldedness in the Potters hand. We choose our own attitudes, activities, and life' choices in general. At first the Potter will work with us through the Holy Spirit to rid us of those things that would hinder us in our walk of faith. When we choose to not yield to the Potter's hands, things might get a little tougher for us because He has no desire to throw us on a scrap heap. His desire is for us to be a vessel fit for His use, but those lumps have to go and their removal can cause certain degrees of pain.

Yielding to the Potter's hand is a choice but with God being our Maker and yes, Potter, how can we decide that He has no right to our lives. In Isaiah 29:16, we find:

Surely your turning of things upside down shall be

esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of

him that made it, He made me not? Or shall the thing

framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?

You see, there are those Christians who feel that God has no right to their lives. So are we to question the One who made us? Are we to sit back with the attitude that God has no understanding and doesn't know what He's doing? On the contrary. In this day of little accountability along with strong feelings of independence, we are just asking for a rough ride on the wheel if we take on those attitudes.

In Isaiah 45:9b, again we see the epitome of arrogance that is almost taunting in nature:

...Shall the clay say say to him that fashioneth it,

What makest thou? Or thy work, He hath no hands?

God is viewed as a do-nothing, know-nothing and not even equipt to function in our lives.\

We may not out and out say these things but we can think some of them. If we live lives in total disregard of what God wants to do with us, then we are all but ignoring the Great Potter as if He doesn't exist.

There is a wonderful old hymn that says:

Have Thine own way, Lord

Have Thine own way.

Thou art the potter,

I am the clay.

Mold me and make me

After Thy will

While I am waiting,

Yielded and still.

May this be our ongoing prayer as we seek to be used of Him knowing that being in the hands of the Potter is the greatest place in the world to be.

Me...an Older Woman???

The aged women likewise, that

they be in behaviour as

becometh holiness...

Titus 2:3

Never have I been more aware of the aging process than over the course of this last year. At almost any age, we begin to feel the aches and pains of aging. The odd thing is that even as we physically age, very often our brains tell us that inside we are still in our 30-40's. I don't know how often I say to Brian, “I hate getting old.” He always replies, “You aren't old, aren't getting old..it's all in your mind.” No honey, it's in my joints, muscles, bones, wrinkled skin, etc. I am so glad though that in the book of Titus, the aged or older woman is lifted up in high position. It isn't a position that will bring great money, but will bring great reward spiritually speaking.

Think back with me at some of those ladies we admired as young girls...ladies in church, school teachers, maybe nurses or even next door neighbors. As I was growing up one thing I loved about being in a small church was the intimacy between people. I loved the Loyal Mothers Sunday school class. I guess I thought they were all in their 90's when in reality I would probably now fit into that class and I'm not 90. They always loved on us girls, some had candy in their purses and just about every one of them wore a hat to church. There were the Sunday school teachers, ladies in the choir, leaders in Bible school, and officers in the Ann Judson Women's Missionary Circle. Many of those ladies through my growing up years gave me more beneficial advice than they can ever know, and some hugged me even when they didn't know how badly I needed it. Who comes to your mind as you read this...what name that you too should stop, thank the Lord for their having been in your life.

I find it interesting that in Scripture, a woman is given two sources of spiritual counsel...her own husband and an older Godly lady. There is nothing said about running to a pastor, counselor of some sort, or even a psychiatrist. So if you are married, perhaps your husband isn't a spiritual leader or even a born again man. It makes no difference in Scripture...no exceptions.

So who are we to be as aged or older women in this role with younger women. First let me say that if you are in your 30's, you are an older woman to some younger women so don't draw an age line in this process. All of us, no matter our age have other young women or girls in our lives who at times need us...just as a young girl, the times I needed a hug from one of the Loyal Mothers even at the risk of her Sunday hat going alop on her head.

Sometime, look at Titus 2:3-5 as it lists our responsibilities both in our personal lives as well as in our influence in the lives of younger women. Some areas to be addressed are:

PERSONAL LIFE OF THE OLDER WOMAN:

Holy - This has to do with our lifestyle. We will not attain to God's holiness but we are to be women of holiness in our behavior.

Not false accusers – Slanderer which gossip can lead to.

Not given to much wine – This speaks for itself.

Teacher of good things - We have no idea how often we teach others that isn't formal teaching. Other ladies are learning from us all the time. We are being watched and sometimes questioned when we don't even realize it.

WHAT ARE WE TO TEACH THE YOUNGER WOMEN:

To be sober - Having a maturity of ones age, being serious about important things.

To love their husbands – This often had to be done. In those days most marriages were arranged. Sometimes a young woman married a man who was almost a total stranger. Love was often taught by the older women. Later in our list, obedience to husbands will be taught as well. That's almost a foreign subject anymore but it's still as much a part of Scripture as John 3:16.

To love their children – Are you aware that there are young women who have babies who really don't like, let alone love children. Sometimes for a first time mom, a baby comes and she is frightened of the responsibility of taking care of a baby when she doesn't even know how to change a diaper. The older woman who may be a relative or close family friend can do much in helping such a young frightened mom. Perhaps as the young mom relaxes, her affection for her child will increase.

To be discreet (discerning), chaste (pure in thought and action), keepers at home (good housekeepers, seeing to the needs of the home), good(useful, beneficial) - all of this so that God's Word won't be discredited before the world.

There is no way we will implement all of these things all the time in our conversations with others. However, we are to be prepared to minister in the lives of those younger than we are as their needs are made known to us. Many of us have already been in positions of being of help to younger women in our families and churches but it is a ministry that is on going and one to be taken seriously.

I know this is a heavier piece of writing but we live in such a busy world where people don't seem to have the time for others we once had. Something like trivial questions can be irksome and time consuming. If younger women don't have we Christian “older” ladies to turn to, they will go to the world, magazines, TV, and internet to get their advice and counsel. I'm grateful for those ladies who were willing to give me of their time, love, hugs and pieces of candy, who also gave to me a piece of themselves to aid in making my life richer, fuller and more Godly.

Thank you...Verna Benbrook, Lois Lanoue, Alma Lockman, Nellie Barker, Fern Mayer, Aunt Ida Mayer, Miss Irene, Rose Stephens, Helen Rennie, Marge Randolph, Virginia Otterson, Ruth Young, Jeanette Batts, Mrs. Crowell, Dr. McGill...and many more whose names leave me for the moment.

Take a couple of minutes and make your own list and thank God for each one who perhaps unknowingly taught you more than you will ever remember. The thing is, they probably won't remember their good influence in our lives but God knows and those Godly women we've had the privilege of being tutored by will one day know about it in full detail in Heaven.

Thank You Father for the godly older women you've allowed in the shaping of my life. Some I've known in church, some in school, some in college and others from most anywhere. You, Father, have brought them across my path to teach me Your ways and I thank you for each one. Amen!

Spiritual Junk

If ye then be risen with Christ,

seek those things which are above,

where Christ sitteth on the right

hand of God.

Set your affection on things above,

not on things on the earth.

Colossians 3:1,2

About 45 years ago, I was a social worker in the Chicago area, but primarily working in neighboring Indiana. One day, a fellow worker brought a newspaper article to work that she found in the Chicago Daily News. Something had been discovered about a very nice lady, living in a nice neighborhood, who had very nice neighbors in the Chicago area. It was known that this particular lady was the head housekeeper in a huge mansion located on the upper north side of Chicago on Michigan Avenue. At the time, the family living in this mansion was a very well known family in the Chicago area.

Every evening, the very nice lady, came home to her basement apartment in a nice neighborhood, often waving to her very nice neighbors as she arrived home. This was the known routine for this lady and for those who knew her for several years. One day though, something strange began to happen. The neighbors noticed a horrible stench emanating from her basement apartment. The neighbors tried for a long time to ignore the terrible odor but it became increasingly worse. The straw that broke the camel's back though was when neighbors every now and then could see rats coming from the apartment. The building where this very nice lady lived was an older building with a family living in the upper part of the house. By the way, it was the very nice lady who owned the building and was renting the upper area to the nice young family. It was obvious that the entire building was being affected. The young family had tried to talk with the lady about the problem to no avail so they moved out without saying anything to anyone. 

Things got worse and worse. No one could imagine however, what all was in that basement apartment. Today, we might be able to imagine what it might have been because we can turn on a TV and see any number of programs about hoarding. When city inspectors answered complaints and checked on the house, they couldn't believe what they saw. There really was nothing that could be done but to immediately try to clean the place out.  City officials brought in employees with shovels to clean out the apartment but that wasn't going well. Finally, the city condemned the house, brought in a bulldozer,flattened the place and carried off the remains.

The shock of it all was that this very nice lady, from a very nice neighborhood, with very nice neighbors always looked pristine in her black and white housekeeper's uniform. Every hair was in place, appropriate makeup applied and rarely anything amiss in her grooming. People in the neighborhood were more than shocked with what they witnessed happening when the city came to take care of the problem. The very nice lady was forced to move to another very nice neighborhood with hopefully very nice neighbors and I often wondered if her problem just repeated itself.

Our churches are full of people carrying around a bunch of junk. I'm talking about people who are knee deep in sin, sinful habits, sinful attitudes but who hold high positions in a church. Oh, they look good, smell good and appear to have things all together in their lives but inside, they stink and never do anything to try to solve the problem of hoarding sinful ways they have come to hang onto for dear life. I've often wondered if the overall church in America had members willing to sell out to the Lord, clean up their lives and shovel out all the sinful junk from their lives if that couldn't be the beginning of a revival that would sweep our country like a wild fire. 

Even within the confines of our Christian world, we've established our own “political correctness.” I heard recently of a deacon who got into an affair with another deacons wife. He may still be on the deacon board for all I know. We have trouble makers in our churches whose behavior is never confronted by church leaders. We have ungodly people holding various church positions. Most people know the testimonies of these people are all but nil. It's interesting to me that such ungodly ones would even be interested in attending church let alone holding an office.

I recently sat near an officer in a church who sat during the sermon filing her nails. I've been in church auditoriums and heard a very familiar sound that drives me nuts....nail clippers. There are adults who misbehave more in church than little children and they are often “name brand” people who are known by most. These are just indicators of deeper problems...junk in a life that needs cleaned out. The sad thing is that we are talking about folks who claim the name of Christ, who are thought by most to be strong, upstanding Christians. They look good, smell good, say the right things and appear to have spiritual lives all together. However the odor of iniquity and rats of sin in the lives of such pretenders come to the surface sooner or later.

For many years, I have suggested a way for any Christian to take spiritual inventory and that is found in Colossians 3. Paul makes very clear those things a Christian needs to put off and other things to put on. Our lives can be cluttered by sin that we don't even recognize anymore. We still look good, have a nice smile, carry a Bible, and hold a church position but like that lady in Chicago, she had her secret and her secret reeked with an indescribable stench. How would the basement of our spiritual lives look to others if we opened up the doors for everyone to see. How shocked would others be to see our spiritual junk.

In Colossians 3, Paul gives a long list of things to put off. He addresses the problem of moral sin that can take any number of forms. He also speaks of things like anger, wrath, malice, filthy communication, lying...all are of the old life. Then Paul gives us some things we are to put on … mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, forgiving one another and more are listed. (Galatians 5 gives us the list of the fruit of the Spirit that should also be a part of our "put on" list.)

This chapter is a wonderful one, a convicting one that speaks to us of our wrongdoing but also convicts us to be more Christlike in every way possible that is made possible by the strengthening of the Holy Spirit. I don't want to be a very nice Christian who attends a very nice church with very nice Christians, hoarding things in my life that would be not only sickening to them but would grieve God in every way. I don't want God to have to come with His bulldozer to clean me up. I would hope for us that we will walk in such close fellowship with Him that when He convicts us of wrongdoing, we immediately respond in sorrow and repentance. I want to be like some friends I have, that being around them is like a breath of fresh spiritual air. May it be so for us all.

Dear Jesus...it's for my sin You died. How can I ever treat any sin lightly, almost hugging it and enjoying it. I don't want to ever get used to sin in my life. It never stays the same but grows and I ask You, Holy Spirit to convict me when I either knowingly or unknowingly sin. Give me Your power to be an overcomer so that others will be able to see more of You and less of me. I love You, my Savior. Amen

Up in the Clouds

Then we which are alive and remain shall be

caught up together with them in the clouds,

to meet the Lord in the air: and so

shall we ever be with the Lord.

I Thessalonians 4:17

I have loved clouds since I was a little girl. My grandmother taught me how to look at clouds and find what looked like animal shapes. When young children, my little sister Kay and I would often lay on a blanket in the back yard looking up to the clouds in the sky to see what pictures we could make. Here in Tennessee, on a sunny day, the clouds are beautiful and every now and then, I find myself looking at them to see if there could be a floating white dog or cat passing by.

It was only my third time to fly and I wasn't very happy about it. I must tell you that I DO NOT like to fly. It was a very stormy day with rain pouring in sheets. To my dismay, I found that the plane would be departing on time. UNBELIEVABLE...was there no thought for the safety of people, better yet, for MY safety? Under the best of circumstances at that time, I would practically have to be carried onto a plane under heavy sedation (which never happened of course) but this was really a bad situation that day. As I boarded the plane, there stood the pilot, standing in the doorway of the cockpit grinning his best public relations smile. I asked him if we were really going to get to Georgia in one piece. The smile never changed as he assured me of my safety. I think I mumbled a low: “Yea, sure!”

Wouldn't you know, I had been assigned to a window seat away from the wing so that I couldn't help but view the abyss below me. However, I had come prepared to keep my mind as occupied as possible and proceeded to reach for my Bible and notebook. I made sure I was busy doing some work at the time of takeoff. It was 1:00 in the afternoon but dark enough outside that it seemed like early evening. It wasn't an encouraging situation for a hesitant flier.

There was suddenly something phenomenal that occurred. As we started to move through the clouds, it got lighter outside...lighter, and lighter and then came bright sunlight and blue sky. The clouds were now white and fluffy instead of dark and ominous. Gone was the rain, and the dark clouds were no longer visible even though I knew they were still a good way below. I couldn't see the storm clouds below as the white, fluffy clouds had taken over. In fact, it was of comfort to me to think that when storm clouds come into my life, I can remember that above them is the sunshine of God's solutions. Those storm clouds will not always linger even though at times it seems they will never dissipate, but my Father is ever with me whether in sunshine or shadow.

I did something I had never done before and I strongly recommend it to anyone as a fun Bible study thing to do. I had a small concordance with me at the time. I turned to the word “cloud” in my concordance and I began listing every Bible reference that had that word with the corresponding Scripture reference listed next to it. I looked everyone of them up and circled the ones that made some sense to me at the moment. Then I wrote out the verses that were significant. What fun that was. I won't belabor my findings, but I was reminded of some clouds in Scripture, such as:

• the cloud over the tabernacle...God's presence that led the Israelites by day
• the cloud covering Mt. Sinai when Moses was there
• the cloud at the transfiguration of Jesus
• when Jesus ascended, a cloud received Him
• Hebrews 12:1 refers to a cloud of witnesses

When my plane landed I didn't mind at all that I had found myself up in the clouds. 

I'll never forget that day. It was a day to recall some childhood memories of making cloud pictures, but in those few hours, I was blessed to recall that:

• I will have fears but they can be conquered with God's help. When I am fearing, then I'm not trusting, my eyes are on circumstances and not on the pilot of my life. I tended to keep my eye on the wrong pilot.
• I must choose the right distractions when I find myself in a state of fear of worry, and
• above the storm clouds of life, there are blue skies and sunshine above them.

I also learned:

• to find a new and different way of Bible study instead of chewing on the same old methods. I can't tell you how much I learned that day on that plane even amid my fears. It's a Bible study method I now use often...word studies. This method, however, is not for the faint of heart. It means getting out pencil, notebook and Bible...really applying oneself to a time of study, and
• that we all must get over the embarrassment of reading our Bibles in public. Many Christians won't even read from their New Testaments in public lest people will think them odd. First, realize that we are odd to the world. Scripture tells us we are a peculiar people. Next, as we are observed, we are also being a witness to anyone looking at us. In the end, we may have an opportunity to answer an inquisitors questions or address a problem they share with us. This applies not just to a nervous flier up in the clouds, but to any Christian who might be calmly sitting in a waiting room somewhere.

Isn't this Christian life of ours just too marvelous to put into words? God, our Father, sees to every provision we need at any time we need it. We are such blessed people. He's not only given us His presence, but has provided us with His wonderful Word that we can feast upon anytime and anywhere. He's always near to calm every fear. That's enough to keep us walking on clouds.

Dear Father...Thank You for Your constant presence in my life. No matter where I am, You are there. You are just so precious to me and can't imagine life without You. May I never disappoint You but if I do, I thank You for Your unconditional love and forgiveness. I love You more than I can say...Amen