My Vase

My Vase
Years ago in France, as I watched a potter at work, he asked me if I would like to try my hand at making something. So I took a lump of clay, wet my hands, shaped the clay and threw it against the wheel. As it began to turn, I pressed my hand against the clay and it rose up into a pillar. Then I put my finger into the middle and made an opening.

I had formed a lovely vase with a flange at the bottom. Then it bellied out and narrowed to a neck.

Thinking that it should be just a little narrower above the flange, I put my fingers there. Suddenly the vase broke.

Looking at it, I asked, "What can be done with that?"

Smiling, the potter took the same bit of clay and made a beautiful vase. Then he put it in his kiln to bake. When it came out, it was beautiful.

God works like that in our lives. We mar them but He makes them beautiful. When God takes a life deformed by sin and molds it into the image of Jesus Christ, all heaven rejoices. We are to the glory of His grace.

1. What ways does God correct our error?
2. Is being a sinful creature the things we do, or is it who we are as human beings?