Richard  limped  down the road to the park.  When he arrived he sat on a bench and began tossing bread crumbs to the squirrels and ducks.  He looked down at his misshapen foot and felt once again deep in his heart a need to run.  He knew he was created to run, but he couldn’t with his foot like that.  He thought back to when it all started.  The day he was chosen.

He was just a lump of clay sitting there when the Master Potter reached over and picked him up.  His Hands placed him on the wheel of life and the spinning and shaping began.  Sometimes quickly and sometimes slowly.   The wheel spun and a body began to take shape.  The head, hair, eyes, nose and then those great cheek bones.  The Master Potter was lost in His work creating a master piece.  Richard remembered seeing his body take shape and reaching out to touch the Master with his newly shaped arms and hands.  It was like touching love itself.

The wheel continued to spin.  Sometimes quickly.  Sometimes slowly. The Master Potter smiled.  His work with Richard  almost done.  Richard remembered sadly the day he became impatient with all the waiting and spinning.  It was one of those slow days when the work seemed like it would never be finished.  He could see other people outside the window of the shop.  He wanted to be free like them.  Free to walk around.  Free to run.  He felt it deep in his soul, the need to run.  That is what the Master Potter was creating him to do.  He said thats why the legs and feet were taking so long.  He wanted them to be strong enough to run the race.

The quacking of the ducks brought Richard back to the present.  He regretted the day he had left the Potters wheel before his foot was finished.  Richard sighed and stood up.  The bread crumbs were gone.  He wandered aimlessly through the small town and found himself standing in front of the Potters House. The sign on the front door said, “Come In”.  Richard looked at his foot and hoped the Master Potter would have time for him.  He stepped inside and his thoughts overwhelmed him.  He shouldn’t be doing this.  He wasn’t good enough.  He wasn’t worthy of the Masters time and effort.  He had run away and his condition was all his own fault.  He would just say he was sorry and leave.  He dared to  look at the Master and then fell to the floor as he sobbed out his apology.  The Master Potter reached out and held him through it all, then lifted him back onto the wheel and carefully shaped the unfinished foot.  The Master stepped back and smiled at his creation then lifted him off the wheel.  They stepped outside into the sunshine.  The Master Potter grinned and said, “Race you!”.  The two friends sped off to conquer the heights of the mountains and the depths of the valleys together.

Yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.  Isaiah 64:8 NIV