With a lump of wedged clay in his hand, a potter sits at his wheel.  After he throws the clay onto the wheel, the potter anchors his elbows to the inside of his thighs.  His secured hands are ready to begin the most important part of transforming this lump of clay into a beautiful piece of pottery.

He is ready to center the clay on the potter’s wheel.

As the clay spins and wobbles unevenly, the potter places his cupped hands on the clay and adds pressure.  He works the spinning clay up and down between his hands until it is perfectly centered.  Then the potter gives the clay its shape, its form.  Then it can become a beautiful vase, a cup, a bowl.

But without being properly centered, without the clay yielding to the pressure of the potter’s hands, the clay becomes a misshapen, uneven piece of pottery – cracked and unusable.

You are the Potter.  We are the clay.   (Isa. 64:8)

It is no accident that the Lord uses the analogy of the potter and the clay to impart to us a profound truth about our relationship with Him.  Many are the lessons we can learn, but there is one that has impacted me of late.

Just as the clay must be centered on the potter’s wheel, we must be centered on the Wheel of the heavenly Father’s Will.

Yes, the Wheel of His Will.  And, being centered on our Potter’s Wheel is not always comfortable.  The pressure of His centering hands may not be pleasant, but it is necessary, and it requires a choice:  my will or His will.  The same choice Jesus had to make in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Wasn’t his fervent prayer, “Father, take this cup from me?”

Wasn’t his passionate prayer, “Can’t there be another way?”

The will of the man Jesus was to forego the Cross, but his choice was to stay centered on the Wheel of the Father’s Will.

“Not my will, but Your Will.”

The choice to be centered on the Wheel of the Father’s Will was not an easy or comfortable choice.

Jesus agonized.

His soul was crushed with sorrow.

He sweat drops of blood.

But because Jesus stayed centered in the Father’s Will, he became a vessel of honor – a vessel of salvation for all mankind.  On the Cross, God the Father poured into him the sins of humanity so that He could pour into us His righteousness.

We, too, must choose to be centered on the Wheel of the Potter’s Will – even when it is uncomfortable, even when it is difficult.  Because once we are centered, the Potter can fashion us into a vessel of honor – a vessel He can use to pour into us what He desires that we pour into the lives of others.