It's really stressful being clay.

Imaging you are a lump of clay. Waiting to be molded. One day, a sculptor picks you up and begins molding you into something. You have no idea what’s happening, but you are changing.

Once you feel the shape taking place, it feels like you will become a bowl. You think “Great. I’m going to be a bowl! I’ll hold food for hungry people and they will be happy after I feed them.”

But then, you feel a handle being added to the bowl. Now, you think “OK. I guess I’m going to become a coffee cup? I guess that will be good. I’ll meet people first thing in the morning. They will hold me and be happy after they’ve had their coffee.”

Now, the sculptor removes your handle and squishes the bowl. You feel a taller bowl shape and think “I guess I won’t be a coffee cup. Feels like I’m becoming a vase?. I guess I can be a vase. I’ll hold flowers for people and brighten their day.”

The process continues, all the while you are wondering “Is the sculptor done? Is this what I should be?”

While you may not know what your final function will be, the sculptor knows what they are doing. They are just working the clay. But, if you are the clay, it can be really stressful as your identity keeps changing.

During this process, the clay has one very important job: don’t harden. If you harden, the sculptor can’t work with you until you soften up again. Also hard clay cracks easier under stress. Soft clay, takes a new shape and maintains it’s flexibility when you hit it.

Life can be crazy and unpredictable. Whether it’s being an entrepreneur, losing a job, relationship or some other major life change, if you read this far, I’m guessing you probably feel the same. Nice to meet you, my fellow piece of clay.

Just when things are going a certain way and you think you are on the right track, it all changes. The sculptor starts a new shape. The most liberating part is when you realize you are NOT the sculptor. You are the clay. The stress of knowing what you will become evaporates.

For me, Jesus Christ is my sculptor, and he continues to shape me into what he needs me to become in order to fulfill his mission.

Each day, I remind myself that my only job is to stay malleable and not harden.

We are the clay.