Created for Love

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: "Come, go down to the potter's house, and there I will let you hear my words." So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel. The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him. Jeremiah 18:1-4

Even to those of us whose molding experience dropped off sharply after Play-Doh days, the image of God as a potter working with the clay of humanity has a lot to offer. Come on down to the potter’s house. What word might we hear when we behold the potter working at the wheel?

We remember the creator taking a bit of dust from the ground and breathing life into it, the first human brought into being. God’s loving nature is expressed in the creation of the cosmos. Whatever is happening at that wheel now is connected to the creator’s earlier intention. Dust, clay, breath, being. God creates for love.

The creator is still creating, hands pressed to the clay, bringing form and purpose as the shape emerges. Maybe the vessel leans or collapses in on itself. The creator starts again, reworking the clay into another form. What song do you think is playing on the creator’s playlist? (There’s no way God is listening to a podcast.)

As the passage continues in Jeremiah, we see the potter metaphor is used to communicate the discipline and corrective action of God in the lives of God’s people. The people are encouraged toward repentance.

That also feels connected to those earliest purposes of the creator’s love bringing the world into being.

It’s comforting to imagine there are forces working for my own good in the shaping and buffeting of life, the pressure and resistance making way for both utility and beauty. That’s not to say that every careless driver cutting me off in traffic is a message from on high — but that I can experience within the changes and chances of life the guiding hand of God shaping a loving response from me.

It might be to surrender. It might be to stand tall, or to be open.

How are you noticing God’s presence shaping and forming you today?

Peace, Ann +