WHEN THE CLAY GOES WRONG, POTTER STARTS AFRESH

WHEN THE CLAY GOES WRONG, POTTER STARTS AFRESH

By Fr. Felix (African Times Guest Writer)

I remember watching a blind potter in the

Christian, Coptic quarter of Duquesne in

Pittsburgh PA. He sat at his wheel, busily

turning it with his feet, moulding his pot by the

touch of his hands, smiling lovingly and

imaginatively as the pot grew into the shape he

was creating. The floor was littered with

discarded shapes of clay, thick and thin,

bulbous and bendy, fine or coarse. So I

imagined Jeremiah on his afternoon stroll led

by the LORD to the potter, one like this here.

Many are the lessons which can be learnt from

this act of creation, that God creates as he wills,

that each of us is different, has different

character and talents, a different place in God’s

plan of creation. In the following chapter the

lesson from a pot, broken once it has been fired,

is that Israel can be irreparably broken. Here,

however, the message is that God can change

his mind to respond to human good will. If

Israel would respond and turn back to the LORD

he would avert the disaster which was

impending.