“Yet, O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay and You the potter: we are all the work of Your hands.”   (Isaiah 64:7)

Somehow amidst the hustle and bustle of Thanksgiving (with big-time bustling grooves in the kitchen : ) it’s hard to believe Advent is here, already (!)  But, today is the First Sunday of Advent.  Lighting the Advent candle in church today, we prepare our hearts for the light of the Christ Child to douse us with more of His love this Christmas (just a few short weeks away!)

We are all clay – in various forms – in the hands of our Creator.  A favorite scripture from 2 Corinthians 4 labels us ‘clay pots’ (“…but we have this treasure in ‘jars of clay’ or little clay pots… to show the all surpassing power is from God & not from us…”)  I always thought of myself as a ‘cracked clay pot’ & even challenged our Tanzanian staff that as the cracks in our clay pots get bigger with life’s storms, isn’t it grand how much more the Light of Christ can shine through (the bigger cracks?)

Somehow now i don’t think God makes broken pottery.  Methinks He patches the cracks with Heavenly healing putty so they form part of the design & beauty of our lives – even the deepest cracks can be redemptively remolded by the Master Potter. (The catch is we need to let Him have a go at the cracks…)

Saint Irenaus, a second century bishop, put it well:  “It is not you who shape God; it is God who shapes you… If then you are the handiwork of God, await the Artist who does all things in due season.  Offer the pottery of your heart, soft and tractable, and keep well the form in which the Artist has fashioned you. Let your clay be moist, lest you grow hard and lose the imprint of the Potter’s fingers.”

At the beginning of this Advent i feel like the clay in my pot has dried out a bit.  Maybe you feel a little dry, too?  Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to moisten our hearts into soft, pliable clay for the Master Potter’s hands.

grace, peace & Advent Clay

   Virginia  : )

p.s.  Last week your humble blogger did notice Advent was OTW (on the way.) Leapfrogging back 2 years i did manage to post something each day of Advent (not major treatises to be sure, but quotes, photos, a movie or two…)  Getting back into the daily blogging grooves this Advent after sporadic hiatus(es) seems like a plan.