Ever since I was a little girl, I have always loved making small things I could keep.
Whether it was painting, sculpting, papier-mâché, making bracelets, drawings, or songs I was always so proud of my creation and beamed with love for it! It sounds funny, but I have distinct memories of this – knowing in my heart that it was good – and it is so so sweet to me.
For those of you who don’t know, I have been taking a pottery class since the beginning of January, and I just received my first four finished pieces back from the kiln last week. To say I am proud of them is an understatement.
THEY ARE MY UTMOST JOY AND DELIGHT!!!!
Once I had them back, these childhood memories of creating and bursting with healthy pride INSTANTLY came back to me. I couldn’t wait to get home, put jewelry in my light pink jewelry jars, and eat ice cream out of my blue-green and pink bowls! I felt like such a kid again, experiencing so much pleasure over something so small, but then…the Lord spoke to me…
Why shouldn’t I feel proud about something I worked so hard and invested so much time, effort, and money (a.k.a. value) in creating? Is that childish, or is that simply my natural response to the way I was designed…in my Creator’s image, and…how was I made again? Was I shaped and formed by…my Creator’s hands?
“But now, O LORD, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand.” – Isaiah 64:8 NKJV
Yes! You and I have been created by an actual Potter, and He is GOOD!
This Potter, who had the power to speak everything into existence – who spoke the light and the night, and the sky and the sea, and the land and the plants, and the sun, stars, seasons, fish, birds, and all of the animals – chose to get down in the dirt He had created and literally MAKE man in His image with His HANDS.
“Yahweh-God scooped up a lump of soil, sculpted a man, and blew into his nostrils the breath of life. The man came alive – a living soul!” – Genesis 2:7 TPT
“So God created man and woman and shaped them with His image inside them. In His own beautiful image, He created His masterpiece. Yes, male and female He created them.” – Genesis 1:27 TPT
We seem to have gotten so far away from the revelation of God’s act of creating us that we don’t even realize how insane and scandalous it is. The Creator and King of the universe Who didn’t NEED us (similar to me not NEEDING my pottery), WANTED us more than anything (I am OBSESSED with my pieces!), so much that He took great pains in actually crafting us into His workmanship.
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” – Ephesians 2:10 NKJV
Other versions of Ephesians 2:10 say HANDIWORK or MASTERPIECE, and the Greek word there, poiema, literally means “a design produced by an artisan” (Precept Austin Commentary).
Think about it! The amount of time it takes for a creative to craft something that they love – putting their heart and soul into every detail, planning and dreaming of its form and function, tenderly softening any rough places, and then going over the piece again and again and again to ensure that it is the most beautiful it can be. I took my first four pottery pieces so seriously, wanting them to be perfect, and –
GOD HIMSELF did this with ME!
Do you see Him that way? Do you see yourself that way? Do you know that God is the most creative being in the universe, and that He actually takes joy in being creative in and through you? We, though made from dust and one of the smallest parts of His creation, are SO LOVED. We (human beings) are God’s favorite part of creation, and He cares for us (proof is below)!
“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” – Psalm 8:3-9
Being aware of the fact that God is Creator and then partnering with Him to create is holy and pleases His heart because it makes you look more like Him. 🙂
“God surveyed all He had made and said, ‘I love it!’ For it pleased Him greatly…” – Genesis 1:31 TPT
So, next time you go to create something, whether it’s pottery, music, a poem, sermon, or painting, remember why it is you are doing it, Who it all started with, and how much He loves to come alongside you and inspire your creativity. You are so precious to Him. Your life has meaning and purpose, and you are not a mistake or an accident. You were made by the Creator of all things. Do you have any idea how valuable you and the things you create actually are?
You are His CREATION, and you were CREATED to CREATE.
“You formed my inmost being, shaping my delicate inside and my intricate outside, and wove them all together in my mother’s womb.
I thank You, God, for making me so mysteriously complex!
Everything You do is marvelously breathtaking.
It simply amazes me to think about it!
How thoroughly You know me, Lord!
You even formed every bone in my body when You created me in the secret place, carefully, skillfully shaping me from nothing to something.
You saw who You created me to be before I became me!
Before I’d ever seen the light of day, the number of days You planned for me were already recorded in Your book.
Every single moment You are thinking of me!
How precious and wonderful to consider that You cherish me constantly in Your every thought! O God, Your desires toward me are more than the grains of sand on every shore!” – Psalm 139:13-18 TPT
Amanda Rassamni 