Treasures in Clay

 

I sneak a peek at him lying there on the couch as shadows bounce through the fading winter early evening light.  I gaze down upon his lanky late teen frame, reading the exhaustion on his rosy cheeked face.  Recollections of my younger years laying on a couch of a family room facing west in late January just six doors down some twenty three years ago bring me back to understanding. Memories flood of teenage years and long Michigan winters and longing for future times.  How I wish I could go back and have a conversation with that younger self.  These choices and moments are short lived but long term all at the same time.  And as I secretly take this moment to heart, my first born and I, we silently are connected as I utter a prayer that he will catch a glimpse of himself some twenty-odd years later.  And here is what I would tell him… these few words here I yearn that God would reveal to his heart:

You are more than these moments. God created you and had a plan for your life before He formed you inside of me.  He has put you here for such a time as this.  But this too will surely pass.  You are being shaped, this piece of clay that you are…molded and formed into something beautiful…and this vessel that He is creating may fall and crack…shatter into pieces that may cut and hurt and feel completely broken down…but if this earthen jar was perfect and smooth, how could anyone see the light shimmering through the cracks? How could you relate to the bruised up and battered ones? How would you feel the light without knowing there is a darkness out there that tries to extinguish the flame? And in your moments of hurt and barren winters hold fast to this truth, “He is making all things new”  Don’t you forget when crushing weights and burdens press hard…When life is moving too fast…and also remember when the sun is shining bright and spring is knocking on your heart with hopes high.  He is working all things together for your good.   And one day, a couple of decades later you will have a moment, maybe watching your very own child and seeing your younger self in him…And you will remember too that there is a time and a season for every purpose under heaven.  Don’t forget to look up at the sky and remember these temporary moments are working toward eternal glory.   And always search for the miracle that is right in front of you.

This man-child’s legs are hanging over the leather sofa and so many emotions are hanging on my heart.  We have one more winter with him living under our roof if he moves away for college and there are so many things I want to tell him.  So much left unsaid.  But I guess that’s where faith comes in.  I have to trust that my God will reveal Himself and speak to his heart in the perfect language that this blue eyed boy of mine will understand. 

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us…” 2 Corinthians 4:7