When Nancy and I last visited Pigeon Forge, we made our customary visit to the pottery shop across from the Old Mill. We were privileged to watch potters shaping their various creations on their wheels prior to painting and firing. Of course, we brought some mugs home to add to our collection.
God led the prophet, Jeremiah, to visit a potter’s house to reveal a few of His ways. The clay became a symbol for the Hebrew nation that God was forming for His purposes according to His desires.
This analogy remains a strong reminder for us of how God shapes and molds not only nations, but also individuals. Having been formed from dust, we are the clay on His wheel and we do best when we submit to His sculpting.
As I thought about this regarding children, I could see them as moldable lumps on God’s wheel. The primary hands He uses to mold each one are those of the child’s parents who have the most time, influence, and interaction with them. It is a parent’s high privilege and enormous responsibility to shape their child into a vessel that glorifies God and blesses others.
But there are many more hands involved in the shaping of each pot. God also directs the hands of grandparents in this work as well as siblings, aunts, uncles, and other relatives. Each of these gets in on the action as their fingers help to draw out, slim down, or otherwise mold each child.
Beyond relatives, God also uses Sunday School teachers and youth leaders. Some of the strongest influences in my early life, outside my family, came from those in our church who loved me and taught me to follow Jesus. God can even use pastors’ hands to help fashion young lives.
Of course schoolteachers also have profound impacts on each child. Since children often spend more time with teachers than even parents, the teachers’ hands form and shape the malleable clay as much as anyone. Children often look up to and sometimes idolize instructors so it is vital that teachers take this responsibility seriously and consider the impact their hands have on the pots they are shaping.
Since many children are involved in athletics, God uses the hands of coaches not only to demonstrate the proper way to hold a bat or throw a pass, but to sculpt the clay of the growing child. Oftentimes during the middle and high school turns of the wheel, coaches carry more influence than parents as players confide in and seek advice from them.
Every adult in a child’s life leaves their fingerprints for good or ill. I fondly recall neighbors and bus drivers as well as community leaders who took an interest and extended a hand to touch my clay as it was forming. Prayer is a powerful force that influences another’s life even if the pot is unaware of it. Only in heaven, will we discover all who helped shape us with their faithful prayers.
In this age of social media, the term influencer has been added to our vocabulary. Individuals on various platforms extend their hands through screens to touch the clay as it rotates.
Although parents might not enjoy this responsibility, it is their role to prevent and even smack away hands that would mar the clay or shape it in ways contrary to God’s design. While all make mistakes in their sculpting, some individuals intentionally exert negative influences on the pliable pieces.
The goal of each potter is to create a piece that will be both beautiful and useful and that’s God’s desire for us as well. Through His tender and sometimes tough work with us on His wheel, He wants to produce, pitchers, bowls, and pots to contain His love and pour it out on others. May we allow Him to continue to shape us even as we extend our hands to shape others. Blessings, George