We are NOT glass

I heard a song on the radio yesterday, I know I've heard it a hundred times at least but I finally reached the place where the words sifted down through the music and fell into place.  This is what it says:

We may shine, we may shatter,
We may be picking up the pieces here on after,

We are fragile, we are human,

And we are shaped by the light we let through us,

We break fast, 'cause we are glass.

If you've ever seen "Sweet Home Alabama" (a favorite of mine, btw) you know that glass is made from sand and heat--a LOT of heat-- and I guess it melts the sand to get glass.  I'm no expert, but that seems to be the general idea.  And if you've ever been to a street fair I'm sure you've seen the glass blower.  He holds the glass with some special tool and torches it to make it soft, then he shapes it how he wants it to go.  Glass can be used for all sorts of things but the one thing you'll always find on the outside of packaged glass is this word:  FRAGILE.

While the song I listened to was beautifully sung and set to a lovely tune, I was suddenly saddened by the idea that people live their lives believing this about themselves.  That circumstances "shatter" us, breaking us, making us no longer useful.  Ever tried to put busted glass back together in its original form?  Impossible.  That's not us, that's not how we were made. 

We're not glass, we are clay.

Clay is an entirely different substance used for a more utilitarian purpose.  It is ugly, messy, smelly, made up of dirt.  It requires a great deal of work to even get to a stage where it can be used at all.  But, once properly prepared it is used to make those items we will use over and over, sturdy things that can take the knocks and bumps.  Clay is not shaped by heat, but rather by intense pressure.  Pressure that presses out impurities, the things that would cause a finished piece to be weak.  Pressure to center, to shape, to draw out the unique design intended.  Isaiah 64:8 confirms that this is the Father's design.  He is our potter, he purposed to make us into one thing or another, beginning our transformation with the end in mind. 

All through scripture you will read about the people of God, using vessels of clay.  There's no big ta-doo about them, they're just there, jars, bowls, pots, plates, cups, etc.  What strikes me is that these are all vessels of service.  Why then do you think God chose this material to liken us to?  Surely in the vast scope of creation He could have made a multitude of different raw materials that could have been used to make these everyday items.  But He chose clay, and he calls us clay.  He commits to the task of making us into something useful for His purposes and then he sets us out to be used, to serve. 

I also find it beautiful that those ordinary items are things that would be repeatedly filled and emptied.  Food setting on a plate too long would rot, water held in a jar too long would grow stagnant and stinky.  Rather these things are used best when they are emptied often.  If we, His vessels of service, are filled with his grace, then perhaps, dear sisters, we were not meant to hoard up the grace of God all for ourselves, but instead to pour it out, lest we become stagnant and stinky.

I have a coffee mug that I made while taking a pottery class in college.  It came out of the kiln with a unique coloring to it, something I had not intended when I glazed it.  The handle on the mug, that I had carefully pulled to be just the right length and thickness, had a streak of that unique color running right down the middle, like I had purposed it to be there.  But it was all completely by accident.  Other students where interested in replicating the coloring, but we could never get it to look exactly the same.  It also came out with a chip in the rim.  I was disappointed with the flaw, but grew to love the way the chip rested at the corner of my mouth when I drank from the cup.  I drank my coffee from this mug for years, briefly it held pens and pencils by the telephone and now it holds the kids toothbrushes.  A few weeks ago, while cleaning the bathroom I picked it up and the handle broke off.  I was instantly devastated!  "Oh...my mug" I thought sadly, "ruined."  But you know, it's not.  I set it back down and it still holds the toothbrushes just fine. 

A change in use does not mean an end to usefulness.  Our maker did not design us to sit prettily on a shelf, that task is relegated to the fragile things.   The dents, dings, chips and cracks will come.  After all, we are earthen vessels.  But we can rest in the knowledge that we are made sturdy, built for the long haul to provide years of service despite our flaws.  Why would God choose to pour out himself into us?  Clay pots holding the precious glory of God?  Because He makes the ordinary extraordinary.  He uses the weak things to confound the strong.  His glory is made perfect in our weakness because it proves the everlasting power of His strength in us.  His light shines through our flaws and the world can see that light pour out of us.  Find peace with your imperfections and know that you were specifically designed for a unique purpose by the hands of the powerful Creator.