My Pottery Journey
Posted October 1, 2006

Why I started doing pottery?  Hmm. I was always interested in the process of making pottery on the wheel.  You could say it fascinated me whenever I saw someone throwing a piece on a wheel.  I told myself that I was going to try and learn how to do that.  I found a class being offered at NMSU and signed up.  After the first day, I fell in love.  You use your whole body when you throw pottery on the wheel.  You actually feel like you are putting a piece of you in each piece you throw.  Pottery is something you can’t do quickly.  It is a slow process and so it has taught me to slow down.  It is relaxing but at the same time engaging ones mind, body and spirit. 

After throwing on the wheel several times, I began to understand all those pottery scriptures.  Because to work with clay you first have to prepare the clay by wedging and kneading, then you can slam the clay on the wheel of life.  From there you center the clay or it will be off balanced and you will not be able to throw a perfect pot when it is not running true.  This is the hardest of all the processes.  After centering you then open up the clay and then thin the walls always going upwards towards heaven.  This is a slow steady process, go to fast and the pot will rip in half or right off the wheel.  As you thin the walls you are constantly trimming and collaring the clay.  It is at this point you can begin to shape your clay into whatever you want, a bowl, a pot, a vase, a pitcher etc…

So when God says, “He is the potter and we are the clay”.  This tells me that our lives and walk with him is a slow ongoing process that can take a lifetime to achieve our true shape in Him and in the process of being made He puts a bit of Himself in us as He works with us.

-Deanna