Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Yet, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.”
NL Daily Devotion for Thursday, June 29, 2023
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
I was recently at an “Empty Bowls” fund raiser. If you’re not familiar with this concept, you can check out more information here. As part of the evening there was a pottery demonstration, and my son and I watched in awe for a while as the young woman at the wheel brought forth beauty from shapeless lumps. She invited my son to try his hand at it, and while it started out as a lovely little vase, it wound up flopping over on one side. Surprisingly, the artist said she absolutely loved it. It was truly unique and quite beautiful and for the rest of the night, she displayed it on her workspace for all to see.
Now I imagine that God, as potters go, was a lot more like the artist than my son in terms of the beauty God is able to draw from shapeless lumps of earth. But I also know that, while we are all beautiful, our beauty does not always conform to what the world recognizes as perfection. Yet in God’s eyes we are whole and perfect even, and especially, when the eyes of the world don’t see it. Truth be told, I think we’re all a little more like the piece my son made than the ones the potter did. And God puts us front and center on God’s work table because God thinks we’re beautiful.
Am I able to see those things in myself that might be imperfect by the world’s standards as something beautiful and whole in God’s eyes?
