Streaks of Clay

Jeremiah 18



There’s a Christian song out that goes something like this:

Father God, I am clay in your hands,
Help me to stay that way through all life's demands,
'Cause they chip and they nag and they pull at me,
And every little thing I make up my mind to be,”

As Tobymac sings these words one can’t help but bob your head and sing along. But the other day I wasn’t bobbing my head; I got stuck on the word “Clay”. The brown gooey stuff that sticks together so that artists can mold it, or the yucky red clay we had in Alabama that leaves streaks on your carpet and is impossible to clean. I began to wonder exactly what kind of clay God sees me as. I think I am the annoying red kind. When Jim and I lived in Alabama that red clay was one of the greatest sources of my frustration and cleaning it was a constant companion in my daily routine.

I began to wonder if God thinks of me as a constant frustration. A mess, he is constantly cleaning up. I know I can go for weeks as a mess God has to work on cleaning up and then I may have some pretty good weeks where my messes don’t seem so bad but I still think he gets frustrated.

The really cool thing about God is that He has infinite patience. Those red clay streaks on the carpet that is my life may have me pulling out my hair but he says it’s what he created us to do. He gets out the carpet cleaner and goes to work. Romans 3:23 says “All have sinned (think red clay here) and are not good enough for God’s glory” We are all clay, our red streaks can be long and ugly but Romans goes on to say in verse 24 “all need to be made right with God by His grace, which is a free gift.” God in his infinite wisdom says: “You are in my hands like the clay in the potter’s hands” (Jeremiah 18:6b) When a crack forms He sets to work remolding, remaking, repairing lovingly and painstakingly with the blood of His Son. As he begins the healing process the sin or dark clay streaks become “whiter than snow”.

Psalm 51 says, “Lord, take away my sin and I will be clean, wash me and I will be whiter than snow.” No more ugly red clay streaks, just the white clay after the heat of the kiln has set me as the “Potter” fashioned me to be. A broken, ugly, clay vessel, molded, remade and fired clean, “whiter than snow”. You and I, because of the great love shown to us by God, because of Christ’s desire to have us in paradise with him are perfected and made “whiter than snow”. No more ugly red streaks on the carpet. I pray daily to be molded by the hands of my loving Father, singing and bobbing my head.

“Father God, I am clay in your hands, Help me stay that way through all life’s demands.”