in the hands of the Potter

April 23, 2006

as i sat in the barbershop last friday, i was reminded of jeremiah 18—the potter and the clay.

my stylist was kind enough to schedule my appointment at 8:30 am, before the shop actually opened. there were only four of us inside, two stylists and two customers. in the eight or so years i have been in that place, it has never been that quiet. normally, it's busy with activity. customers come in and out of the shop and several stylists work at once. conversations, ringing telephones, shavers, fill the room with a lot of noise.

i was delighted at the stillness of it. i have come to love silence and stillness over the past few months. i've grown to love the beauty of sound. that morning, i could hear everything with pristine clarity—the whirl of the shavers, the snipping from the scissors, the clip-clops from my stylists' shoes as he moved about. it was beautiful. i loved it so much, a smile began to emerge on my face. i was that delighted with those sounds!

i wonder how many wonderful sounds i miss/have missed because of noise. how often do we miss these beautiful sounds (like the sweet song of a bird in the morning) because of excessive noise? how often do we miss the soft whispers of God because of the noise in our minds and hearts and the noise around us?

as i watched my stylist cut my hair, i began to think about jeremiah 18. God, the Potter and we, the clay. my stylist had something great in mind when he cut my hair. he knew exactly what it would look like after he was finished and he knew exactly how to get it there. he knew when to use the scissors, when to use the shavers, when to use the different shaver blades. he knew what to cut, what to shave, what to leave alone. in short, he knew everything. all i had to do was sit in the chair and trust him to do what he intended to do.

God has something beautiful in mind when He looks at each and everyone of us. He has a purpose in store for us. He knows what type of pottery we will become, our size, shape, colour and function. He knows all these things. as the clay, all we need to do is remain on the pottery wheel and let the Potter do what He pleases. though, it's not easy. we have to remain patient. we have to allow ourselves to be pushed in ways we may not like. it calls for an act of submission, obedience and trust. it goes against everything our western cultures tells us to do—be an individual, achieve your goals and dreams, submit to no one, do whatever you want. but if we desire to become the person God created us to be, we must remain on the pottery wheel. only the Potter knows how to shape the clay. the clay has no idea what it is meant to do. at best, it can only make small guesses and try to figure out what it's made for. we will never become the person we were meant to be on our own. we are simply too ignorant, too small, too selfish and self-centred to know what to do.

our purpose in life is so simple. we were made to be in relation with God. we were made to worship Him. He will take care of everything else. He will direct our paths. God initiates everything. all we need to do is allow Him to do the work He has begun in each of us. all we need to do is sit on the chair. and as we sit, as we observe what He is doing in our midst, we will see the beautiful work He has in mind for our lives.

Posted by Leo Chan at April 23, 2006 4:51 PM