Messed Up Clay

I graduated today.

My first unit of CPE is officially over, and I have emerged with 300 hours of visitation credit, a lot of learning, one new mug, one new bowl, and one new book (amongst other things). It was actually kind of funny as my group met for the final time today. All of the ladies in the group pulled out gifts for everyone. The guy in the group said that he just had smiles and hugs to give…which was perfectly fine, too.

As I was trying to figure out what to write tonight, I thought about my new bowl and pottery and a plate that I once made in the pottery studio. The bowl that I received today is a beautifully thrown bowl. The plate about which I’m speaking was an ugly-ly handmade plate. I didn’t make it ugly on purpose. It just turned out that way.

Yet. What I thought was ugly was seen as beautiful by one of my friends. She was able to see through the cracks and imperfection to see something beautiful…which…of course…is how God sees us and how I hope to see others and how I hope others will see me.

Earlier today, I posted a simple status…Three of my all-time favorite statements to both hear and speak: "I'm glad you exist." "You are important." "I believe in you."

These are the statements that we say when we find beauty in messed up clay.

These are the statements that I heard in CPE as my group found beauty in me.

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Messed Up Clay

Messed up clay,
Wedged into a cube,
Forced into the extruder,
Formed into coils.

Messed up clay,
Laid upon a mold,
Smoothed by gentle strokes,
Blended into one creation of many parts.

Messed up clay,
Placed upon the drying rack,
Dried to leather hard,
Baked to set forever.

Messed up clay,
Cracked from the heat,
Worked too little by careless hands,
Hoping to be sealed by a glaze.

Messed up clay,
Dipped into blue,
Swirled over with black,
Left to settle before revisiting the heat.

Messed up clay,
Returned to the fire,
Emerged with deeper cracks,
Destined for permanent imperfection.

Messed up clay,
Wearing ugly colors,
Allowing water to leak through,
Sitting idly on a shelf.

Messed up clay,
Considered worthless by most,
Thought priceless by one,
Embraced out of possibility rather than perfection.

Messed up clay,
Held as treasure,
Believed in by grace,
Containing love much more valuable than bread and water.

Messed up clay,
Messed up life,
Messed up you,
Messed up me.
Messed up clay--

Yet there is beauty!

Beautiful clay.