me, as a clay pot.We just returned from our church retreat in Warwick, NY. The theme was “A Whole Person Living in a Broken World.” We spent a lot of time thinking about the illustration of our lives being like clay pots.

If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That’s to prevent anyone from confusing God’s incomparable power with us. As it is, there’s not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we’re not much to look at. We’ve been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we’re not demoralized; we’re not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we’ve been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn’t left our side; we’ve been thrown down, but we haven’t broken.
1 Cor. 4:7-9 (The Message)

We were each given a clay pot and a black sharpie. The photo above is mine. The back says “God. If we think we can do it without Jesus, he will likely let us try.” During meditation this morning, I wrote the following in my “offline” blog:

Such a beautiful morning, overlooking the Ramapo Mountains. The Catskills peek through the mist in the distance. The farmlands are plush and green and the trees are old and tall. The blue sky has occasional dots of fluff.

Though solitude is normally how I enjoy my nature experiences, today I am happy to be sharing this one. My wife is besides me, cradling my new daughter. The crisp breeze that brushes my face and arms is also interacting with them. This is a family time worth the memories.

This retreat has encouraged discussions of being clay pots, and being a whole person in a broken world. Right now, in this place, I feel whole.

The sounds of birds and smells of nearby cows play with my senses. Happy distractions to my meditation. Perhaps these are not distractions at all, rather winks and smiles from God, telling me that He loves me and is glad that someone is appreciating His creativity.

This moment, frozen in time, would be a nice place to visit again.

~END~

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