I’ve spoken several times about the cards I call Hymn cards.
They’re a series of cards I designed, perhaps in memory of my dad, but certainly because of him and his love of old hymns and Salvation Army songs.
I recently made the decision to get the cards professionally printed and list them on Etsy. Well this morning a couple boxes of cards and wrapping paper arrived and I’m slowly sorting them out and writing the many listings for Etsy.
It’s going to be quite a job, but hopefully soon all cards and items will be in the shop for you to buy.
I’ve decided to write a post about every card design I’ve ordered and show them to you.
So firstly… The potters card.
The imagery of a potter at the wheel is mentioned several times in the Bible, even in Genesis there is a sense of God mixing dirt with water to make clay to form Adam.
The image on the card is of a master potter, working with the clay to turn it into a final piece, the same hands that made the goblet for the king made the begging bowl for the pauper.
But the message of the story isn’t only in the greatness of the potter, but in the process of the clay.
In 1902, A young woman named Adelaide sat in a prayer meeting feeling very discouraged. She had dreams and plans of going to Africa to serve as a missionary. It was a worthy but costly goal and she hadn’t managed to get the funding needed to travel.
I can imagine her thoughts, Why would God call me to Africa and not provide the means to go?
So many of us have had disappointments this year.
Education has been disrupted, employment has disappeared, our daily routines have been changed beyond recognition. Fear of catching a virus, fear of not seeing family and friends in time, uncertainty and loss have been companions for so many of us.
I can relate to Adelaide.
As she sat in that prayer meeting wondering why this was happening? having big dreams and little means, and wondering whether something can come from this, she heard an older woman speaking out.
“It really doesn’t matter what you do with us, Lord. Just have your own way with our lives.”
That night Adelaide walked home and thought of what the woman said. She thought about the imagery in Jeremiah 18:3, of clay in the hands of a potter.
She went home and wrote this hymn:
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Thou art the Potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after Thy will,
While I am waiting, yielded and still.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Search me and try me, Master, today!
Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now,
As in Thy presence humbly I bow.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Wounded and weary, help me, I pray!
Power, all power, surely is Thine!
Touch me and heal me, Savior divine.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Hold o’er my being absolute sway!
Fill with Thy Spirit till all shall see
Christ only, always, living in me.
– Adelaide A. Pollard
I don’t know whether Adelaide made it to Africa, but I know her words and poetry went there, and went much further. We don’t know what God has in store for us, Adelaide had a big dream of speaking about God in one country, but God had plans that meant Adelaide communicated far beyond her lifetime.
And so, the first of the card is listed.
If you are interested in buying a card the link is here:
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/964760353/thou-art-the-potter-christian?ref=shop_home_active_1&frs=1