SPIRITUAL - Surrender: The Potter and His Clay

Birthdays….have you ever pondered, “What is the purpose of celebrating the day of my birth? Is it for reflecting upon what has occurred in the past year? Or….is it the anticipation of what is to come in the new year of life?” I suppose it can be both. However, I’m coming to realize that, more importantly, it is the celebration of what God intended for me when He created me. It is commemorating the unique way in which He equipped and gifted me. It is honoring the very special purpose designed for me which no one ever born nor will ever be born can fulfill.

This is nothing less than astonishing to me! However, I’m also coming to realize that -

I can’t truly enjoy the celebration
of what and whom He has created me to be
if I can not fully surrender to Him;
the Creator, the Equipper and One who offers the gifts!

Surrender: it is an ongoing battle isn’t it, my friend? Yet, when I consider my resistance to it, behind the battle I re-discover selfishness, pride, isolation and inner turmoil. Oh, how I abhor that sinfulness which lives within me and how I long for full and complete submission to my Lord! Yet, where, how do we find it? It seems illusive. Doesn’t it?

Behold,
like the clay in the potter’s hand,
so are you in My hand…!
Jeremiah 18:6

If we find ourselves genuinely longing for such total yielding, we are closer to it than we realize. As painful as it is in that place of longing, it is through this hunger and thirst, this searching, sorting and seeking that we learn how helpless and incapable we truly are. When we realize at the very core of our being that the ability to surrender is not in us, rather it is in the precious, yet fiery work of the Spirit of Jesus, then we become pliable enough for Him to accomplish His finishing work within us. In this, there is no credit that we can claim for finally figuring it out or mustering it up. Instead, all praise, glory and honor goes to the only One who deserves it, Christ Jesus!

It is my prayer that, at your next birthday, the Holy Spirit will be your guide helping you to more fully celebrate the birth of the precious child and servant whom God created you to be.


Whole-Heartedly,
Bonnie