The master potter

First Reading: Jeremiah 18:1-6
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 146
Matthew 13:47-53

I was very excited to hear this reading from Jeremiah in mass this morning, as I can personally relate to this reading. You see, in high school I became consumed by a love for pottery. I took ceramics and sculpture and really found myself in this art. It was just so amazing to me the time and dedication that it takes to create something such as these pieces of art. When making pottery, you start with this big lump of soft clay, you then knead it like bread so that you work out all of the lumps and get all of the air out. Then you put it on the wheel and let it spin around, it is here that it is very important that you center your clay on the wheel as it is spinning. If it is not centered and doesn't have a firm foundation, then you will not be able to work with it and it will always be off balance. From there it is a matter of concentrating and working with the clay to form it into whatever your plan for it was. Let me just tell you that when you are on the wheel or sculpting something, these is a great amount of focus and care for what you are doing. At these moments there is only the creator and the creation.

From the reading in Jeremiah today, the Lord sends Jeremiah to go to a potters house watch him work and then he will give Jeremiah a message. Jeremiah is watching this potter work with skill and detail when the Lord says; "Can I not do to you, house of Israel, as this potter has done? says the LORD. Indeed, like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, house of Israel." Do you see it? God our creator gives us such a great example here of how he can help us be exactly what he created us to be. We just need to let Him in and let ourselves be workable like the clay. As I explained above, when working with clay on a wheel, it is so important for the clay to be centered, otherwise it is off balance. Also just like the clay, we have to be centered as well; our lives need to be centered around Christ. If we do have a firm foundation set and a life centered around Christ, then he can start molding us into the person he created us to be.

In the book of Genesis it says that God created the heavens and the Earth, the sun and the moon (basically everything); and after each thing that He created it was noted that whatever He created "was good." The master potter created each of us for a purpose, and He has big plans for each of us if we let Him work with us and mold us into this "best version of ourselves" (quote from Matthew Kelley). Please do not get caught up into what we have planned for ourselves or what the world tells us is good. Trust the master potter, he has a life planned for us that is so much more than we could ever plan.

Center your life around God, let Him work out the "lumps", and let Him form and mold you as He has planned.

Father in Heaven, we humbly come before you asking for your help in our lives. We know that you are the source of all that is good and we ask for your will to be done in our lives. Lord increase our faith so that we might have a life that is more centered around you. We pray for those who are unwilling to let you into their lives, may you soften their hearts and open their minds to your plans in their lives. We ask this all through Christ our Lord. Amen.