On the Potter's Wheel

One of the hardest things about being a Christian is the inability to remake God in my image. If God is a Real Person, with distinct character qualities and a personality, then I have to accept Him as He is and not as I wish He were. If God is Good, and the bible says that He is, then He is good even if I never find my missing son. If God is Love, and the bible says that He is, then He is Love even if my eldest son is sent to prison. If God is absolutely Just, and again, that is something that the bible teaches, then He is Just even if injustice is served to me in double helpings. God Himself spells out a wide range of instructions for the care and feeding of humans, yet there is no money-back guarantee that all will be well.

One of the most insane things about living as a follower of Christ is that His people must learn to separate themselves from the circumstances of their lives to cling to Him completely. To follow when there is no logical reason to do so. To embrace Him fully, even if He strips away everything else. That's crazy.

One of the most beautiful things about a radical commitment to this God of Creation, is that a complete dichotomy occurs in the process. As I hone my focus on His Perfect Self, the joy grows proportionately to the pain. As my fingers are pried off of the contents of my heart, I find that my heart is freed, and subsequently filled, with all that is beyond my expectations.

But there are no shortcuts. It's a surgery of sorts, through which He cuts away the disease to bestow a healing. It is not trite, not at all. It hurts. It is a weighty process.

It's not at all unlike commitment to another person, in fact. When I bind myself to my spouse, or to my bosom friend, I find that I am willing to take them as they are. No judgment. No manipulation. Nothing but acceptance. The relationship invariably rubs against my rough edges to change me. The process can at times be unpleasant, even painful, but the benefits are remarkable.

The Surrender to God, Himself, is far more complete than any other relationship I have. Not even my own husband asks so much of me as does my God. Indeed, my husband and I have a far more symbiotic relationship that that which I have with my Creator. If Tim isn't nice, I exact my due! But with God, it's very different: He is the Potter, and I am the Clay. He has an owner's right to reshape me as He will.

As He's certainly in the reshaping process. Maybe He could change me back into a size 6 while we're at it...?