POTTERY & CHILDREN
This week I had parent teacher night for some of my classes. I spoke to 36 families and each had very different children. As I was driving home I was thinking that our concerns, frustrations, and efforts were so similar – just from different places. While we spoke about marks and effort, I found that the parents were most concerned with their children becoming human beings – adults of the future. We, parents and staff, at Thomas Hassall College are in the business of moulding people! This of course reminded me of a bible passage.
This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord:
2 “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.”
3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.
5 Then the word of the Lord came to me. 6 He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel.
Jeremiah 18
Did you know that pottery is based on friction? It is the timely applying and releasing of pressure from the potter that moulds the clay. We do that to our children and God does that to us. You are unique so God gives you unique pressures to mould you into the person he wants you to be. God has many tools as a Potter – circumstances, his Holy Spirit, and the people we encounter.
It is hard being a parent or teacher, we get sick of the friction. But persist, stay gentle, stay consistent for we are in the business of moulding people. Finally, do not be hard clay, trust God, obey him as he moulds you.
