China or Styrofoam?

Do you ever worry that despite what God wants for your life that you just aren't making it? You know what a child of God looks like (or at least you think you do) and you know what their life must be like - their behavior, their thoughts, their hearts - and when you compare them to yours you simply don't see the resemblance? Do you sometimes feel like God must be shaking His head and wondering if you're ever going to "get it"?

My daughter and I are embarking on a new Sunday School class called Secret Keeper Girl. It's a Bible study of sorts to help young girls learn that their value is found in being a child of God, not in whatever society says of them. It's full of fun outings to places like hair salons, shopping malls, trips to get facials, and view art. The first lesson is about a china tea cup and the outing is for a formal tea.

At first, I was a little riled about the whole china tea cup comparison. I mean, what makes a china tea cup special? Why is it "worth" more than, say, a Styrofoam cup? Well, in my eyes, the china cup is worth more because it's fragile, decorated, delicate. That offended me! Those were worldly assignments of worth. Did I want my daughter to be valued because she's dainty and pretty on the outside? I have Depression glass tea cups. I have never put hot water in them because I'm terrified they will break. Did I want my daughter to learn that she was just a decoration, too fragile to be of use to the Kingdom? It seemed at first that the Styrofoam cup was more Christ like! It's functional. It doesn't detract from it's purpose which is to effectively serve hot beverages and keep them hot without burning your hand. It does its job perfectly well and in the end, the cup, the outer trappings, can be discarded. Why even the fact that it isn't biodegradable seemed Christ like to me! Just like Styrofoam, He lasts forever!!

But then I listened to the story about the china tea cup. I had forgotten that china is a type of pottery. I took a pottery class in college. We had to work the clay over and over with our bare hands until my hands ached. We worked out every bubble because even the tiniest bubble in the raw clay could cause the art to burst in the oven. We (well, most of us- not me) threw our clay on the wheel, spinning it until we got it just right. (I never got mine just right!) The project was baked at a high temperature, painted with high fume glaze and then re-baked. If the project had been human, all of that work to produce a lovely piece of art would have been quite painful! And I can imagine that the poor little piece of clay would have never believed that eventually it was going to be just what the potter had in mind.

So often, just like that piece of clay, I wonder if I will ever turn out right. I believe that I'm faulty clay- that there's not much even a Master Potter could accomplish with me. And then I read verses like Romans 8:29-30:

God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun.

And I believe that what God sets His mind to, He accomplishes (Isaiah 55:11), so maybe there's hope yet!