Perhaps you are enjoying a warm beverage right now. Are you sipping from a demitasse, mug, or tea cup? Each vessel is best suited to a certain purpose. A mug of Cuban coffee or espresso would overwhelm, while a demitasse of tea or ordinary java would disappoint. Soup restricted to a tea cup serving leaves hunger pangs behind.

Consider the design of your favourite cup. Mine is cobalt blue, that fleeting hue of the sky just after the sun disappears below the horizon. Its shape begins with a sipping edge curving comfortably over my lip. The contour returns inward before billowing out to fill my left palm. Its intentional design provides familiar blessings every morning.

Into what sort of cup has the Potter fashioned you? Can you identify the refreshment that you are designed to share through your current work? Whether extensive novels, family nurturing, or community service are sipped from the vessel of your hands, remember that your delicious purpose is wrought by intentional design. Have you thought about the warmth that our Lord is brewing? He prepares a special blend to share through you at each opportunity, big or small.

If you were a vessel molded by a master potter, how would the process of being formed feel? Consider experiences common to all who are shaped and refined in life, as well as unique events personal to you. Into what type of vessel has this process crafted you? How could the process of being formed contribute to Christian service? Describe your shape, colour, and texture. To whom might the Master Potter lend you before retrieving you back to His own house?

Prayer: Master Potter, help us to understand and embrace our shape. May we submit ourselves into Your loving hands and live each moment according to Your perfect design. Thank You, Father, for opportunities to participate in Your glorious work. Amen.