|
nugget of nourishment
This week, a mom that sits next to me in pottery class had to bring her seven-year-old son with her when she couldn't find a babysitter. As she began to teach her son the basics of throwing, he became increasingly frustrated.
He finally finished his first bowl. It was a small thing, but he couldn't have been prouder of it. That pride was short-lived as he went to wire it off and sliced through the bottom of the bowl, leaving a gaping hole in the middle of his piece. If you've ever thrown before, you know this heartbreak. We've all done it.
He immediately called it quits, convinced he was the only one in our class that was making mistakes. Then Annie, his mom, turned to me and said, "Phae will you please tell him what happened to your bowl last week." I told him about how I ruined a bowl by making the walls too thin. Effectively collapsing the entire thing. I finished my anecdote with, "Part of pottery is failing. If you aren't making mistakes, you aren't learning."
This is why the pottery studio is one of my sacred holy grounds. Valuable life lessons come in the form of collapsed pots and bowls with holes. Isn't it true that you don't know something until you know it? Isn't it true that, indeed, you will fail, but what you learn from it is what matters?
God is using all of your messy, collapsed, and holey pots for good. Recycling the clay, getting it ready to be used for something new. And in the meantime, may the holes remind you of something holy. Divine love. Unconditional forgiveness. Steadfast grace.
| 
