Looking Back, Looking Forward, Part 2

At the beginning of the year, I wrote about these ceramic pieces.  Formerly, these pieces were just bisque and being shuffled around from box to box, closet to closet, space to space.  I finally decided to glaze and fire them.  To my dismay, the glaze did not cover all areas and the pieces were not food safe. Meaning, they couldn’t be used as drinking cups. Was it a complete failure? Not at all.  Some found new homes as decorative pieces, a few found new homes as flowerpots, and many were given as gifts. My pieces did not find themselves in my cupboard as expected, yet they still found themselves useful. 

At first, some vital step didn’t come through, and I put on the stink face. I considered tossing the pieces or letting them spend the remainder of their existence languishing on a dusty shelf.  However, their purpose wasn’t lost.  They were redeemed to bring beauty to open spaces. 

These were just oft-forgotten pieces from a college class and they were given new life.  I think of how God’s love and attention are much more prevalent, and He can do much more for me than I can do for little knick-knacks. My question is, was all the tossing around part of the original plan? Or was it plan B?  Or is it as Forrest Gump concluded, that we are both floating around aimlessly and part of a bigger plan at the very same time? Or is “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; too lofty for me to attain” ? -Psalm 139:6   Sometimes its easier to realize that some things are just way over my head.  Fun to think about nevertheless.

This past year had plenty of changes and plenty of feeling tossed around.  However, the happy part is that I’m still an artist; wherever I find myself, and my purpose remains to paint great paintings. 

(reposted from previous blog)