Am I willing to be clay?

If you have ever worked with clay, you know that the clay you're working with will determine what you can make, or if you can make anything at all.  Clay that is too hard or too dry is hard to shape.  Clay that is to wet will not hold its shape as you work with it.  Clay that has lumps in it will not take the shape you may be trying to form.  Good clay makes a big difference, but even if the clay isn't perfect or is completely dried out, it can still be remixed, and the texture and moisture changed to make the clay easier to work with.  On the other hand, if the clay has already been dried and then fired into its final shape, no amount of mixing or adding of moisture will bring it back to the point where it can be reshaped.

When I was born, I started off life much like a lump of clay (and probably not an exceptionally good lump of clay).  My parents and family played a part in shaping me into who I would be.  My teachers and friends also got to take a turn at being the potters.  For the majority of my life I have been playing the part of potter; deciding where I will go, what I will do, what movies or TV shows I will watch, what I will read, who I will associate with, what church I will go to, who I will marry, what activities I will participate in, and the list goes on.  All of those things shape me.  But there has been one other Potter shaping me that entire time and His skills as a potter are beyond anything I could achieve.

But what kind of clay am I?  Have I acheived my final shape?  Is this all that I am and all that I ever will be?  Have I fired this shape permanently; deciding that my shape/my future has been set and cannot or will not be changed?  What happens when the mystery Potter comes along and says, "I need this one to take on a different shape, for I have something special planned.  But alas, the clay is no longer pliable and will not take a new shape"?  Will the Potter shake is head and set me aside in sadness to look for another lump of clay that can still be shaped for His purpose?

My prayer is that I can be clay in the Potters hands; trusting in His skill to shape me into the vessel He needs.