You are a clay bowl
Show me clay made without water and I’ll show you a coin with only one side.
Behold this clay bowl, my friend, moulded under the pressure of the Potter’s hands, baptised with water, spun on the wheel, then fired in His kiln.
Only through such surrender do you become His vessel.
There is no other way.
Show me clay made without water and I’ll show you a coin with only one side.
Show me a bowl formed without pressure and unkissed by the kiln, and I’ll show you a lover without her Beloved.
Clay must mix with water. Endure the potter’s hands. Remain on the wheel without flying off, and not shatter in the furnace.
When she has walked this path, then she can do what no unbaptized dirt can do. She can hold boiling water without melting. She can embrace freezing ice without shattering.
Yet you hesitate to become this clay, clinging to your pride.
You say you want to drink the living water, which gives life, but where is your bowl?
You are still unmixed, still dry dirt.
You will wash away and lose your mind if you try to drink this water.
The prideful never become clay bowls.
They think because they’ve felt the rain that they’ve been baptised. No. Rain does not submerge you—it only passes through you.
Only the humble will be submerged in a bucket filled with living water.
The Potter calls you to this path, if you will hear.
But how can you hear your calling if your ears are shut?
How many bowls have cracked in the furnace? Think of all the clay that never made it onto the wheel.
How can you know if you have the strength to endure?
This path is not for the weak, but neither is it for the strong. For the strong will refuse the water; the weak will run away.
So, then, you must surrender and become humble. Trust in the Potter. He will guide you.
I tell you this: you will be made into a bowl if you stop resisting. Let the Potter’s water baptise you, His fire refine you, and rise as a vessel of Love.
If you’d like to commission sacred/liturgical art for personal devotion, a church or religious community, send me an email :)
