The Borders
Psalm 23:5-6 - You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
What words can I say to the Potter? How can I tell Him how I ought to be made? How can I tell Him what to do and when? He needs no knowledge from me. He needs no counsel from me. I am the one who needs Him, yet He wants to work with me.
Though He could do all things by His all-powerful hand, He takes delight in working through His heavenly and earthly creations. Though He needs not my prayers, He listens to them so that I may align my will with His will. Through this divine communion of prayer, I am humbled in His presence. The hardness of my clay heart softens to His regenerative water on the wheel. Imperfect as I am, He could cut my pot off the wheel of life with His just cord, but instead He patiently guides me to give way to His molding.
My pride is pushed down and my will begins to be hollowed out to the touch of His hand in my life. I am spun round and round through the same temptations and with each rotation I am transformed a little more than before as He shapes me through the trials. My compunctive tears add a purifying water on the wheel and I am overflowing with love for my creative Potter. His goodness and mercy are upon me and I see the work of His hands everywhere. Undoubtedly I wish to remain in His house all the days of my life as He continues to shape me.
Yet… I love Him so imperfectly, so feebly, so unequally compared to His love for me. He pours out His love and mercy into my unworthy cup and I cannot contain it all. The immeasurable dispensation of His grace overflows into the wheel of my life. And this life has meaning, it has purpose, it has worth because of His love. Unworthy as I am, I do have one request of the Potter:
Would He expand the borders of my heart that I may love Him more? Would He enlarge my heart with His holy hands by pushing the walls of my cup outwards? Though I be filled to the brim and overflow, I wish to know a love for Christ greater than I have ever known.