Hand-Formed Pots

I was going through my old blog posts and decided to this share again which was one of my favorites. This is a reflection of my devotion way back January 14, 2006...

It was about tests and trials or troubles in life. It was compared or described in the way hand-formed pots are made. We are the pots, and the process the pots go through are the trials we experience in life.

Hand-formed pots are made in a process that allows the spirit of the artist (potter) to speak through the finished work with particular directness and intimacy. Like pots, we are "hand-formed" by our Maker, with "particular directness and intimacy" and that each of us is formed in a unique way for a unique work: "We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10).

We were always told that we are all uniquely created, and the Scripture states that we are made for good works. As I read on it, I've thought of the process pots go through until it is finished. All pots go through the same kind of "cooking process" or preparation; first it is shaped by the potter and then it is "fired" in a kiln. There it is cooked (burned) and dried. And then some are even thrust into a smoldering sawdust pile and remains there until it is finished. The more "painful" the process, the more refined and elegant is the finished product.

I'm currently going through some painful trials and troubles in my life. And I also have friends who are going through different but the same painful experiences and have confided their sentiments to me. It helps to think that you are not the only who goes through the same unpleasant situations, that you are not alone, so it won't make you think that God is being hard on you only, and that he Has no favoritism.

But the pot making made me appreciate the trials more. Yes, the process is so painful that we sometimes can't help but to grimace in pain, but thinking how we will make an "elegant pot" after made me accept it, rather than question God why He has to give me such discomforts. A friend told me (Rhoan, I am talking about you. You may not know it but you really blessed me and uplifted my spirit with these words), that maybe the reason why God is giving us these, for it seems like all of us in the worship team are afflicted, is because He's preparing us for a bigger task. And instead of grumbling and feeling sad, he was happy about it! Sabi pa niya, "nae-excite na tuloy ako!" (He said "I feel excited"). Grabe Rhoan, nahawa mo ako. I can't help but smile when you mentioned those words. It is also through you when you mentioned those encouraging words that I saw how sometimes God speaks to us through friends. ^_^

I like how they wrote it in The Message Bible translation what Paul said in James 1: 2-4. It said "Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way."

Trials exist, not to break us but to complete us. We might be going through the same pain, or some might be undergoing more painful ones, but we must know that without these things, we will not be complete. God's purpose was not just to make us complete, but to make us beautiful and perfect, not lacking anything.




image from google
Maybe the reason why we are still hurting is because God is not finished with us yet, or like what Rhoan said, He may be preparing us for a bigger task. Our God is a God of happy endings, so if you are not yet happy, then it is not yet the end. Whichever it is, we should not be bitter but rather be thankful that we go through these things, because it is also for our good, that we be made perfect. God loves us, and He only wants the best for us. ^_^