Then I knew there wasnt any hope. I would never make it. I was ready to give up. But the door opened and he took me out and placed me on the shelf. One hour later he handed me a mirror and said, Look at yourself. And I did. I said, Thats not me; that couldnt be me. Its beautiful. Im beautiful.
I want you to remember, then, he said, I know it hurts to be rolled and patted, but if I had left you alone, youd have dried up. I know it made you dizzy to spin around on the wheel, but if I had stopped, you would have crumbled.
I knew it hurt and was hot and disagreeable in the oven, but if I hadnt put you there, you would have cracked. I know the fumes were bad when I brushed and painted you all over, but if I hadnt done that, you never would have hardened; you would not have had any color in your life.
And if I hadnt put you back in that second oven, you wouldnt survive for very long because the hardness would not have held. Now you are a finished product. You are what I had in mind when I first began with you.
God knows what Hes doing (for all of us). He is the Potter, and we are His clay. He will mold us and make us, So that we may be made into a flawless piece of work to fulfill His good, pleasing, and perfect will.