A few weeks ago, I had the privilege to attend my brother’s Masters of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition. The show was beautiful, inspiring and powerful. For over half of Cory’s life, he has been working with clay. I remember him coming home from his first ceramic class with a beautiful and simple pot. The year before I had taken the same class and my pot looked more like a blob than a vase. Needless to say, he had a gift…I did not. 

So, for the last 15 or so years my family and I have watched his art mature, change, grow and develop. I have loved every minute of it and feel blessed to be a part of it. I even get to showcase a few pieces in my home. I could go on about how proud I am of my brother and his skills, but instead I want to share something he said in his presentation.

Cory has spent the last few years developing a technique where he places hand-colored paper-thin clay flowers, shapes and lines on top of a clay cylinder or tile. He then moves and molds the clay until it creates the vase, bowl, cup, or tile that he was imagining. The challenge of this technique is that the original stripes, flowers or spots change and move in a way that you don’t always expect them to. 

It is a lot like life. We might expect our life to look one specific way all the time. Like myself, you might have plans for your future, thoughts of what your life might look like at one point or another, but more often than not our lives get stretched, challenged, pulled and distorted. Maybe you even feel like you are in that place right now. 

When Cory was describing his work at the gallery exhibit, he talked about the excitement of seeing how a line of color might move. He spoke about the experiment that drove him to see how he could shape and mold color into something beautiful and the challenge that drove him to try new things. 

In our lives, those experiences often feel like the opposite. How often those growing pains are the most difficult challenges that we go through. Sometimes it feels like the grief of losing someone we love hurts beyond what we can even imagine. Too often pain and suffering drive us to seek out any relief. More often than not, a move, challenging parenting moments, aging parents, new jobs and job loss feel like we are being pulled, pushed and molded into something that we didn’t really want to be when we started.

But, and this is a big BUT…those are often the moments that make you the beautiful piece of art that God made you to be. In my brother’s art, it is those swirls, distortions, stretches and twists that bring energy and life into his pieces. In fact, they are my favorite parts of his work. 

I wonder if it is those very difficult moments that create hope in our own lives. Not because those moments are perfect or what we planned on but because it is in those moments that we are required to be fully in the hands of the One who is molding and shaping us. It means that we have to trust that the Maker is watching those parts of our lives and His hands are directly moving us to the place God wants us to go. I pray that wherever God is molding you, you are able to see the beauty of you in these very moments. 

(The “Ninth Beatitude”)

As the Google definition reads, flexibility is “the quality of bending easily without breaking.” If a person is flexible, it implies that s/he has the grace to be open to the ideas of others – and has a willingness to be instructed and challenged to change and compromise for the better (without surrendering Biblical principles). It is unfathomable to imagine what life would be like without flexibility and compromise.

Scripture speaks to this admirable trait in a number of passages (among many others):
Mark 1:16-18 King James Version

16 Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
17 And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.
18 And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him.

Matthew 2:7-12 King James Version

7 Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.
8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.
9 When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.
10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.
11 And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh.
12 And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.

Luke 10:38-42 King James Version

38 Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.
39 And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.
40 But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? Bid her therefore that she help me.
41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:
42 But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

In the passages above, each character had one plan in motion, or was set to follow one, but then, with flexibility and grace, elected to follow another route, based on his or her trust in God. Each person was willing to yield their own plan of what they should do and, instead, found strength in following God’s direction.

Although it makes much more sense to be flexible – to “bend” rather than to “break” – many times we are pridefully compelled to hold onto our own way of thinking and acting. When we “see ourselves as the center,” convinced that ours is the only way; or that there is to be no compromise because compromise signifies weakness, we “base all of our decisions on our own needs and feelings, ignoring others, not seeing the big picture, or being accommodating in order to make the right decisions and go in the right directions.” (Dr. Richard J. Krejcir)

It is easy for us to become set in our ways.  We prefer our comforts, routine, and status quo. 

After we do a thing for a certain period of time, it becomes sacred. And when someone upsets our sacred routine, we are upset. What is it in your life about which you have decided to just ‘put your foot down’ and remain inflexible and unmovable? Pray that you remain pliable in the hands of God, that you may be ever-learning, ever-growing, and flexibly ever-changing.

"Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings. Do not spare; Lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes. For you shall expand to the right and to the left, and your descendants will inherit the nations, and make the desolate cities inhabited." (Isaiah 54:2-3).

Blessed are the flexible, indeed! Let’s get stretching!

This past summer I had the pleasure of going to one of my favorite spots, the Galatian Canyon near Bozeman, Montana. The canyon has meadows, a beautiful flowing river, small waterfalls when snow pack pours into the river, and the delicious smell of pine trees. I believe that when God was thinking about places He might live on earth, He created this amazing canyon. For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of seeing this place in person, you might know it from the movie, A River Runs Through it where Brad Pitt, Craig Sheffer and Tom Skerritt fly fish throughout the movie. 

Too often I find myself, and maybe you do too, in the midst of a hunt for the clues and answers in how to make life a little simpler; where I am not running from one thing to the next, worrying about what this means or how I will handle that situation. Somehow, I feel like there must be a formula that puts all this stuff into an orderly and organized manner. 

But then I remember this place. The forest is full of life and energy but it doesn’t feel the same as the rush from one meeting to the next, carpooling children and family around, and trying to complete the to-do list that always seems longer than is possible to complete. Instead, the only rushing that exists is the tender breeze blowing the scent of pine my way.  

The forest seems to have no anxiety, worry or fear that plagues it. Things happen, they keep going, but the weights that continue to press upon us don’t seem to exist. Instead, the forest seems to say, ‘life will keep going, the river will continue to flow. Trust in the beauty God created.’

Every time I come to this place all I can hear are the words of the Psalmist, “Be still, and know that I am God.” The beauty of this place begs you to pause for just a moment and the rest of the world seems to fade away. The stillness invites us to feel the presence of God even though life seems to be a little overwhelming. 

This when I realized that the formula or answers to the mystery of life aren’t found in the right order of getting things completed, nor is it found in the things we do or don’t do. It is found in being still and knowing that God has it under control. 

This is hard, and that is why we have to find the place that reminds us to rest. Whatever it is that is going on - meetings, test results, worries, fears and pain - God has it under control. The only answer we have is rest in God and we will make it through. 

It is extra hard to remember this when schedules are full and life seems chaotic, but that is why I keep a picture of the Galatian Canyon on my desktop background and screen saver - so that I can be constantly reminded of the place that brings about complete rest and trust in God.

Where is that place for you? Maybe you have the place where you believe God would live. If not, I am happy to share mine. Remember, whatever is going on in your life today, be at peace with the words of Psalm 46, “Be still and know that I am God.”