The Potter and the Clay

We started out flying Jonathan's Air Hogs remote control helicopter around the room tonight. It's a very cool little gadget and a bit touchy on the controls and so you have to be careful and gentle in how you pilot it. On the table behind us, we placed different clay pots, bowls, cups, and vases for the kids to be looking at.

We began talking about God's direction for our lives and how, when we pray, we often are asking God to follow us and the direction we are going in...to join us in what we already have planned for our lives. We talked about how sinful having this attitude is on so many levels! It's prideful to think that we know what's best for our lives and futures and that we're capable of planning them. It's lacking in faith to not trust God with our lives and futures. He knows what's best for us and has every single minute of our lives planned out from conception to the day we die! He is sovereign and everything He does and allows in our lives is ultimately for His glory, not ours.

So often though we pray for God to bless OUR plans, OUR ways, what we WANT to do. And when God doesn't seem to be in agreement with us and our plans and He begins to close those doors and attempt to lead us in a different direction, we ignore his answer of "no" or "not yet" and instead choose to believe that we just haven't heard from Him. In the meantime, we are missing out on something so much better....His will for our lives, which is ALWAYS better than anything we ever could have imagined.

Ephesians 3:20 says, Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

He can do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think! Be still and let Him!!

We watched a short YouTube then that was a little over the top, but showed visually a potter working with clay while excerpts from Isaiah and Jeremiah were read and discussed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_vf7D_n-4o&feature=related

To help the kids relate more, we watched a few clips from the movie Evan Almighty. Evan Almighty is a hilarious movie with several usable discussion clips. This story is about Evan (who we met first in Bruce Almighty), now leaving his job as a TV news anchorman in Buffalo, NY to become the newly elected congressman in Washington D.C. Evan’s campaign promise and slogan was to “Change the World.” Although he had his own plans to accomplish that, God (Morgan Freeman) shows up, and Evan is given the task of building an ark, just like Noah.

In the beginning of the movie, prompted by his wife, Evan decides to pray and ask God for His help in changing the world. His prayer goes like this...

Hello, there. Hi. This is Evan Baxter. Um… just wanted to say thank you for everything. Thank you for the new car and for the house. The house is great. I love it. I mean, I picked it out, but you created matter and everything, so… I just wanted to say that I think Joan makes a good point, and that I am now in a position of great power, and I know that with great power comes great responsibility. So, God… (ahem) …please help me change the world. Okay. That’s it. I’m hanging up now. God bless… Well, you. Okay.

Now as we soon see, the way Evan wants to change the world and the way God chooses to use Evan to change the world are two completely different plans! Evan gets angry with God at one point and even challenges what He is doing in His life. But as everyone discovers by the end of the movie, God's ways, though not understood by Evan, were much greater than Evan, his family, and everyone involved ever could have dreamt possible. God did use Evan to change the world, just not the way Evan thought he would.

We gave the kids the words to The Potter's Hand then and read them carefully while we discussed what they meant.

The Potter’s Hand

Beautiful Lord, Wonderful Saviour

I know for sure, all of my days are held in your hands,

Crafted into your perfect plan

You gently call me into your presence guiding me by Your Holy Spirit

Teach me dear Lord to live all of my life through Your eyes

I'm captured by Your holy calling

Set me apart, I know you're drawing me to yourself

Lead me Lord I pray

Chorus:

Take me, mold me, use me, fill me

I give my life to the Potter's hand

Call me, guide me, lead me, walk beside me

I give my life to the Potter's hand

You gently call me into your presence

Guiding me by your holy spirit

Teach me dear lord to live through your eyes

I'm captured by you holy calling

Set me apart, I know your drawing me to yourself

Lead me lord I pray

During our whole discussion, the kids were molding and shaping homemade clay we gave them at the beginning of class. We asked them who was in control of what they made of the clay...them or the clay. We pointed out all of the different clay vessels we had brought in to display and reminded them that, like no two clay creations were the same, God's plans and ways for each of us are just as different...and still just as marvelous. He is the Potter and we are the clay.

We also made sure the kids knew that God's ways and plans for our lives didn't mean smooth sailing or easy living all the time either. We talked about Paul and how he was persecuted, Jim Elliott and his martyrdom for the Kingdom of God, and the countless others who have suffered all according to God's will and still for His glory.

We ended our time in prayer for each other and that we would each allow God to mold us, use us, and fill us....according to His will, not ours.