The Potter's Workshop

March 7, 2012 by Danika Cooley | 2 Comments

For Ages 3-7

Based on Isaiah 29:16

 

“Well, I’ll tell you something,” said Debra loudly.  “The potter sure didn’t make me.  In fact, I’m not sure there even is a potter!”

High on rows of shelves in the workshop, the potter’s pots gasped at Debra.

“What do you mean?” they all asked.  “The potter made all of us!  He’s our creator!”

Debra snorted, in the important way only a wide mouthed, gold rimmed, floral vase could.  “Not me,” she said.  “He didn’t make me.”

“That’s just silly,” said Nicodemus, the plain, large water jug.  “Of course the potter made us all.”  Nicodemus sighed loudly, “He just made me the wrong way.  I should have been beautiful – like Debra.”

Again, the potter’s pots gasped!  The wrong way?  The potter made everything perfectly!

“Well,” sniffed Debra importantly, “I am certainly beautiful.  Still, there is no potter.  Even if there was, I am certainly not made by him.”

Eliab, the old oil lamp, cleared the cobwebs from his throat.  He was always good at shedding light on a situation.  “The potter never makes mistakes.  We each have a purpose.  We are each important.  A pot should show only thankfulness to the Creator.”

The pots could hear the potter in the front room, slapping a new lump of clay.  The bell on the front door tinkled merrily.

“Good morning, sir.  My mother sent me.  We need water from the well, but we have no container.  I do not have much money, but I can give you what we have.”

The potter’s voice rang out strong and clear.  “I have just the thing for you, my boy!  Come with me.”

The potter led the boy into the back room, straight to the shelf that held Debra and Nicodemus.

“Here you are,” smiled the potter, lifting down Nicodemus.  I made this one especially for a young man like you.  With this useful pot, you will always have a container for the water you need.”

The potter and the boy walked through the front room and out the tinkling door.

“See?” exclaimed a little bowl.  “The potter made us all!  Nicodemus was made just for a boy like that!”

“Yes!” said a covered dish.  “We were each made by the potter!”

For once, Debra had nothing to say.

 

Praising the Potter

            Those pots were pretty silly, weren’t they?  The prophet Isaiah told us humans can be just as silly about the things we say about our Creator, God.

Here’s the truth:  God made you perfectly, for a purpose.  He has a plan for your life – and He loves you!  We should use our mouths to praise God, never to say silly things about Him.

    You have turned things around,
    as if the potter were the same as the clay.
    How can what is made say about its maker,
    “He didn’t make me”?
    How can what is formed
    say about the one who formed it,
    “He doesn’t understand [what he's doing]“?      

Isaiah 29:16(HCSB)