“Have Thine Own Way, Lord!”

 

                                   

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be done to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her. * 

While waiting at the salon for Al’s hair cut to be finished, I met a young man who was wearing an eye-catching t shirt. When I asked about the logo on his shirt, he replied that it was from a family reunion a couple of years ago.

That started up a conversation and after a few minutes, I mentioned that we were getting ready to go California for a family reunion with my side of the family.

 “California? Well, do me a favor and go see the ‘big trees!” The young man, whose name was Brian, had just seen a documentary about them and was yearning to see them.

“We used to live only about an hour from the Sequoia National Forest and hiked among the Giant Sequoia trees.”

I told him that they were very tall but had comparatively shallow root systems and could fall in violent winds.

“That has a biblical meaning,” Brian said.

 “Yes, like building your house on the firm foundation of Jesus Christ,” I responded, mentioning the parable Jesus told in Matthew 7:24-27 about the wise man who built his house upon a rock.

 Surprised that he seemed to know something about the Bible, I asked him about it and discovered that we shared a common faith in Christ.

 “Are you in the ministry?” I asked.

Brian explained that he was in the ‘camera/video’ ministry at his church, filming the services and making them available online. It was obvious that he was deeply committed to prayer and to serving the Lord. He seemed willing to let God work in his life, even to the point of having a conversation with a gray-haired grandma!

 “I believe that the Lord has arranged this,” said Brian, referring to our meeting. He observed that not only were we different in age, but in race and gender too.

Yes, our meeting had to have been a God arranged appointment! It certainly was inspiring and a blessing for me to talk to a young person with such a deep commitment to the Lord. His passion for Jesus was revealed through his smile, eyes, openness and humility. God’s love seemed to flow out of him.

As Al and I were leaving, Brian said he would be praying for our family reunion! How special! And I reciprocated by saying that I would keep his family in my prayers as well.

Our reunion was still several days away, but Al and I were looking forward to connecting with many of the family members on my side, as well as celebrating my sister Jan’s birthday.

Since she has been taking a pottery class, I was going to take along the gifts of a potter’s apron to protect her clothes from spattered clay and a paperback book, “Pottery is My Therapy,” in which she could log her creations for future reference.

 Teaching elementary school children how to make pottery was always a messy activity. We usually went outside and worked at the picnic tables on the playground to avoid spattering the classroom walls and floors.

 Often they would want to wash their hands just after touching the clay, exclaiming “Teacher, my hands are dirty!!” I would try to get them to wait until they were finished, saying that was just part of working with clay!

By the time our pottery sessions were over, we’d all be covered with goopy gray clay. But my students were pleased when they saw the end results of their labors after the clay had dried out and was glazed, then fired in the school kiln.

The prophet Isaiah compared God to a potter with these words, “Yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.” (Isaiah 64:8)

 Putting our faith in Christ, investing time in worship, study of the Bible, prayer and allowing God the freedom to work in our lives, to mold and shape us as He so desires—all are essential in developing deep roots. May He be glorified in us!

 

“Have thine own way Lord! Have thine own way!

Thou art the potter; I am the clay.

Mold me and make me after Thy will,

While I am waiting, yielded and still.”

(“Have thine own way Lord,” Adelaide Pollard, 1902)

*Luke 1:38 NIV

(Picture taken with Judy's sister, Jan Slitor, and the handcrafted platter by Jan)