Thirty-Something Soccer Mom

When I was a teenager I took a beginning Ceramics class at school. Each day we sat at long tables shaping gray lumps of clay into pinch pots and coil bowls.  Meanwhile, the advanced students worked at the back of the classroom on the potters wheel.  

As they worked we watched with admiration knowing it required a great deal of skill to turn a lump of clay into a symmetrical pot without cracks or collapse.

The clay they used came in 10-pound blocks, shrink-wrapped in a white plastic film.  We all knew that the larger the lump of clay the greater the challenge to sculpt. Most of the advanced students would cut the large block in half and place the 5-pound lump in the center of the wheel.  

However, one student named Jeremy was determined to sculpt a perfectly symmetrical pot using the entire 10 pounds.  Our teacher, a kind and soft spoken man, never discouraged him from his attempts.  He could easily sculpt the 10-pound portion but every time Jeremy tried, something went wrong and the pot would crack or collapse in his hands.  In frustration he’d curse the potters wheel, forsake the pot and ask the teacher if he could start over with a fresh block of clay.

Our kind teacher would refuse his request every time.  Instead, he would approach the wheel, survey the damage then sit down and start it spinning again.  With great skill he would cut away the broken pieces then add a little water to the remaining clay. Time after time he’d carve and sculpt until the once broken pot began to take on a new shape.  The whole class marveled as we watched a master potter take a broken forsaken lump of clay and turn it into a unique masterpiece.

* * * * *

Many of us begin our lives much like Jeremy with ambitious goals to create from ourselves an impressive “masterpiece.”  We strive for the perfect life, seeking the ideal in our marriage, family, career and personal accomplishments.  It doesn’t take long, however, for us to realize that despite our best efforts we usually see our “ideal” collapsing into a lump of misshapen clay in our imperfect hands.

When we see this happening it’s easy to become discouraged or even depressed.  In our frustration we may even curse the potter’s wheel and forsake the lump of clay, upset that our life isn’t turning out the way we’d planned.  

But there is another way.

That year, my high school ceramics teacher taught me about God without saying a word.  Through his kind and patient example, he taught me that the *Master Potter is always there, ready and willing to take our broken, misshapen lives into His hands. When we turn the wheel over to Him we see the miracle of His power and grace working in our lives.  

So when you find yourself at the wheel of life, wishing you could start over with a fresh lump of clay, remember the Master. You may think it’s too late, that your broken life is beyond repair, but it’s not. It’s never too late to humble yourself before God and ask Him to sit at your wheel.  With His help your life (mistakes and all) can be transformed into a unique and beautiful masterpiece.

_____________________

 “There is nothing that you have done that cannot be undone. There is no problem which you cannot overcome. There is no dream that in the unfolding of time and eternity cannot yet be realized… However late you think you are, however many chances you think you have missed, however many mistakes you feel you have made or talents you think you don’t have, or however far from home and family and God you feel you have traveled, I testify that you have not traveled beyond the reach of divine love. It is not possible for you to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ’s Atonement shines.”

-Jeffrey R. Holland, Quorum of the Twelve Apostle

*Jesus Christ