Yesterday I was on Cone 9...er, I mean, Cloud Nine!
I have been e-mailing a potter who lives not even 10 miles away from me ever since I found her gallery of sorts on the internet. She has been the biggest encouragement, with real tips and hope and not once making me feel I was in over my head.
Turns out, she started just like me, in a way. She is 67 now, and only starting working with clay 8 years ago. She didn't attend classes, she had no one to teach her. She read and researched and just dove in. After hours, weeks, and months of frustration, she finally got the hang of the potter's wheel and now she even makes her own glazes when she has the time and energy to work (she has polio and also does the accounting for her and her hubby's business.)
Well, she offered to let me visit her and yesterday I spent about 3 hours with her. I got to hear stories of how she began, she showed me her work, and she even showed me how to work the wheel.
Then, she let ME try my own two hands at it...after centering it for me. I push the clay in and out and she said she honestly thought I had a natural talent for it...she hadn't been able to get her own grown kids or grandkids to do as well the first time...she said I must be a pro in disguise ;)
This might sound like she was just flattering me, but in talking to her I know she respects honesty, so though I may not be pro, I hope I DO have a knack for it! She also could tell that I knew a lot from my reading and that I'm not like some who THINK they want to work with clay but only really want easy answers on how to get from here to there...
And then I found out she is a Christian! And we've had two more e-mails just today with regards to talking about God!
So I have found a friend and a mentor, and I hope we can get together more. And, I have discovered that I like the idea of the potter's wheel more than I thought I would (it doesn't hurt to have someone tell you that you might be good at it!) But I loved the feel of the clay spinning within my hands, and a picture came to me...
As I was thinking one again about the fact that we are living Jars of Clay sculpted by the Father's hand, I pictured God at the potter's wheel, with me as the lump of clay He was shaping, and I realized that when you shape a pot, you literally are hugging it much of the time, to re-center or push in the shape. You alternate between drawing the clay out and hugging it, or at least, in my beginning pursuit of it, I did so.
But I thought that that was such a neat picture, that while God is shaping me, He is cupping me within His palms, gently forming me to be what He wants. I can't wait to see what other pictures I get the more I study scripture and pottery. I think maybe this will bring me closer to God than just me reading the Bible...I'm a very visual person, and maybe this is another way God is choosing to speak to me. I sure hope so.
I also will be thrilled that if and when I get a wheel and make pots, the "pottery" part of Mud Puppy Pottery won't be a misnomer after all...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
That's so cool! Congratulations! What a wonderful thing to find a mentor to learn from and talk to. Good for you! I look forward to hearing more. :-)
Post a Comment